۞ Have you not seen those who fled their homes in their thousands for fear of death, whereupon God said to them, "Die!" and later brought them back to life? Surely God is bountiful to mankind, but most of them are ungrateful. 243 Fight in the way of Allah. And know that Allah is the Hearer and the Knower. 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 Have you not heard of what the chiefs of the Children of Israel demanded of one of their prophets after Moses? They said, "Appoint for us a king, and we will fight for the cause of God." He replied, "What if you refuse to fight, when ordered to do so?" "Why should we not fight for the cause of God," they replied, "when we have been driven forth from our homes and our children?" But when at last they were commanded to fight, they all refused, except a few of them. God knows the wrongdoers. 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 their Prophet said unto them: Lo! the token of his kingdom is that there shall come unto you the ark wherein is peace of reassurance from your Lord, and a remnant of that which the house of Moses and the house of Aaron left behind, the angels bearing it. Lo! herein shall be a token for you if (in truth) ye are believers. 248