AND HAS the story of Abraham's honoured guests ever come within thy ken? 24 When they entered upon him, they said: Peace. Peace, said he, a strange people. 25 He went quietly to his wife and returned to his guests with a fat, roasted calf. 26 And he set it before them, saying: Will ye not eat? 27 [And when he saw that the guests would not eat,] he became apprehensive of them; [but] they said, "Fear not" - and gave him the glad tiding of [the birth of] a son who would be endowed with deep knowledge. 28 Then his wife came up in great grief, and she struck her face and said: An old barren woman! 29 They said: "Even so says your Lord. Verily, He is the All-Wise, the All-Knower." 30 ۞ Abraham asked, "Messengers, what is your task?" 31 They answered: "Behold, we have been sent unto a people lost in sin, 32 That we may send down upon them stone of clay, 33 They are transgressors in the presence of your Lord". 34 Then We evacuated there from all the believers 35 for apart from one [single] house We did not find there any who had surrendered themselves to Us. 36 We left a sign in this for those who fear the grievous punishment, 37 There is also evidence (of the Truth) in the story of Moses when We sent him to the Pharaoh with clear authority. 38 and he turned away in [the pride of] his power and said, "A sorcerer [is this Moses,] or a madman!" 39 So We seized him and his hosts, and cast them into the sea. He became an object of much blame. 40 And in the tribe of A’ad, when we sent a dry windstorm upon them. 41 that left nothing that it came upon without reducing it to rubble. 42 And in Thamud's also was a lesson, when it was said unto them: enjoy yourselves for a season. 43 But they rebelled against the command of their Lord. So the thunderbolt overtook them while they looked on: 44 So they were not able to rise up, nor could they defend themselves- 45 (So had We destroyed) the people of Noah before them: They were surely a sinful people. 46