And if not for a word that preceded from your Lord, punishment would have been an obligation [due immediately], and [if not for] a specified term [decreed]. 129 So you bear with patience what they say, and sing the praises of your Lord before the rising and setting of the sun, and honour Him in the watches of the night, and then at the two ends of day, that you may find acceptance. 130 And never turn thine eyes [with longing] towards whatever splendour of this world's life We may have allowed so many others to enjoy in order that We might test them thereby: for the sustenance which thy Sustainer provides [for thee] is better and more enduring. 131 And command thy household for prayer, and persevere thou therein; We ask not of thee any provision; It is We who provide thee; and the happy end is for piety. 132 And they say: If only he would bring us a miracle from his Lord! Hath there not come unto them the proof of what is in the former scriptures? 133 And had We destroyed them With a torment before it, surely they would have said: O our Lord why sent not Thou unto us an apostle that we might have followed Thy signs before we were disgraced and humiliated. 134 Say, "Each [of us] is waiting; so wait. For you will know who are the companions of the sound path and who is guided." 135