۞ Have you ever reflected upon the case of those who fled their homes for fear of death, and they were thousands in number? So Allah said to them, "Die"; then He again gave them life. Indeed Allah is bountiful to mankind, but most of the people are ungrateful. 243 And fight in Allah's cause and know well that Allah is All Hearing, All Knowing. 244 One who generously lends to God will be paid back in many multiples of the loan. It is God who reduces and expands things and to Him you will all return. 245 Bethinkest thou not of the chiefs of the Children of Isra'il, after Musa? They said unto a prophet of theirs: raise for us a king that we may fight in the way of God. He said: may it not be that if fighting were prescribed unto you, ye would not fight! They said: and wherefore shall we not fight in the way of God, whereas we have been driven forth from our habitations and children? Then when fighting was prescribed unto them, they turned away, save a few of them: and Allah is the Knower of the wrong-doers. 246 Their prophet said to them, "God has now appointed Talut to be your king." But they replied, "How can he be king over us when we are worthier of kingship than he and he has not even been granted an abundance of wealth?" He said, "God has chosen him over you, and has given him great knowledge and physique. God grants kingship to whoever He pleases: God is magnanimous and all knowing." 247 And the prophet said to them: Surely the sign of His kingdom is, that there shall come to you the chest in which there is tranquillity from your Lord and residue of the relics of what the children of Musa and the children of Haroun have left, the angels bearing it; most surely there is a sign in this for those who believe. 248