Tell My bondmen to speak that which is kindlier. Lo! the devil soweth discord among them. Lo! the devil is for man an open foe. 53 Your Lord is most knowing of you. If He wills, He will have mercy upon you; or if He wills, He will punish you. And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], over them as a manager. 54 And your Lord best knows those who are in the heavens and the earth; and certainly We have made some of the prophets to excel others, and to Dawood We gave a scripture. 55 Call upon those you claim to be deities besides God and you will know that they have no power to remove affliction from you or to bring about any change [that you may desire]. 56 Those, they call upon are themselves seeking a means to come to their Lord, competing with each other to be nearer; they hope for His Mercy and fear His punishment. Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is the subject of caution. 57 there is not a town [community] but We shall destroy or sternly punish it before the Day of Judgement. That is recorded in the Book. 58 Nothing has prevented Us from sending signs, except the fact that previous peoples denied them. We gave the people of Thamud the she-camel as a clear sign, yet they mistreated her. We give signs only by way of warning. 59 When We said to you: "Verily your Lord circumscribes mankind," and showed you the vision and the accursed tree of the Qur'an, it was as a bone of contention for men. Thus do We (instil) fear in them; but they only transgress the more. 60