Those who came with the slander are a band of you; do not reckon it evil for you; rather it is good for you. Every man of them shall have the sin that he has earned charged to him; and whosoever of them took upon himself the greater part of it, him there awaits a mighty chastisement. 11 Why did not the believers, men and women, when ye heard it, think good of their own own folk, and say: It is a manifest untruth? 12 Why did they not bring four witnesses to prove it? When they have not brought the witnesses, such men, in the sight of Allah, (stand forth) themselves as liars! 13 Had there not been Allah's grace upon you and His mercy in the world and the Hereafter, surely there would have touched you, for that wherein ye had rushed, torment mighty. 14 When you received it on your tongues, and were speaking with your mouths that whereof you had no knowledge, and reckoned it a light thing, and with God it was a mighty thing -- 15 Wherefor, when ye heard it, said ye not: It is not for us to speak of this. Glory be to Thee (O Allah)! This is awful calumny. 16 Allah exhorteth you lest ye may ever revert to the like thereof, if ye are believers indeed. 17 God explains His commands to you clearly, for God is all-knowing and all-wise. 18 Indeed, those who like that immorality should be spread [or publicized] among those who have believed will have a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. And Allah knows and you do not know. 19 But for the grace of God and His mercy upon you, and were not God compassionate and merciful, [you would have come to grief]. 20