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 fully aware of you. He may show you mercy if He will, or punish you if He will. We have not sent you as their guardian. 54 Your Lord knows very well all who are in the heavens and the earth. We have preferred some Prophets above others, and to David We gave the Psalms. 55 Say: Call on those whom you assert besides Him, so they shall not control the removal of distress from you nor (its) transference. 56 Those they invoke themselves seek the way to their Lord, (striving) which one of them shall be nearest (to Him); and hope for His grace, and dread His punishment. Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is to be feared! 57 And there is not a town but We will destroy it before the day of resurrection or chastise it with a severe chastisement; this is written in the Divine ordinance. 58 Nothing prevented Us from sending the signs but that the ancients belied them. To Thamood, We brought the shecamel as a visible (sign), yet they wronged her. We do not send signs except to frighten. 59 When We said to you: 'Indeed, your Lord encompasses all people' We did not make the vision which We showed to you, and the tree cursed in the Koran except to be a trial for people, and We frighten them, but it only increases them in great insolence. 60