۞ And rehearse thou unto them with truth the tale of the two sons of Adam, when the twain offered an offering, and it was accepted from one of them, and was not accepted from the other; he said: surely I will slay thee. Said the other: Allah accepteth only from the God-fearing. 27 If you raise your hand to kill me, I will raise not mine to kill you, for I fear God, the Lord of all the worlds; 28 Lo! I would rather thou shouldst bear the punishment of the sin against me and thine own sin and become one of the owners of the fire. That is the reward of evil-doers. 29 At last his evil soul drove him to the murder of his brother, and he killed him, whereby he himself became one of the losers. 30 Then Allah sent a raven scratching up the ground, to show him how to hide his brother's naked corpse. He said: Woe unto me! Am I not able to be as this raven and so hide my brother's naked corpse? And he became repentant. 31 That is why We decreed for the children of Israel that whosoever kills a human being, except (as punishment) for murder or for spreading corruption in the land, it shall be like killing all humanity; and whosoever saves a life, saves the entire human race. Our apostles brought clear proofs to them; but even after that most of them committed excesses in the land. 32 This is the recompense of those who fight against God and His Messenger, and hasten about the earth, to do corruption there: they shall be slaughtered, or crucified, or their hands and feet shall alternately be struck off; or they shall be banished from the land. That is a degradation for them in this world; and in the world to come awaits them a mighty chastisement, 33 except for those who repent before you gain power over them: for you must know that God is forgiving and merciful. 34