And this, too, is a divine writ which We have bestowed from on high, a blessed one: follow it, then, and be conscious of God, so that you might be graced with His mercy. 155 Lest you (pagan Arabs) should say: "The Book was only sent down to two sects before us (the Jews and the Christians), and for our part, we were in fact unaware of what they studied." 156 Or lest you say, "If only the Scripture had been revealed to us, we would have been better guided than they." So there has [now] come to you a clear evidence from your Lord and a guidance and mercy. Then who is more unjust than one who denies the verses of Allah and turns away from them? We will recompense those who turn away from Our verses with the worst of punishment for their having turned away. 157 Are they waiting for the angels or your Lord to come down to them, or for some of your Lord's signs to come? The day when some of the signs of your Lord shall come, it shall not profit any human being who did not believe before, or who did not do any good by his faith. Say to them, "Wait then, we too are waiting." 158 Some of those who have divided their religion into different sects are not your concern. Their affairs are in the hands of God Who will show them all that they have done. 159 Whoever will come to Allah with a good deed shall have ten times as much, and whoever will come to Allah with an evil deed, shall be requited with no more than the like of it. They shall not be wronged. 160 Say, "Indeed, my Lord has guided me to a straight path - a correct religion - the way of Abraham, inclining toward truth. And he was not among those who associated others with Allah." 161 Say: Lo! my worship and my sacrifice and my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the Worlds. 162 No partner has He. And this I have been commanded, and I am the first [among you] of the Muslims." 163 Say: "Am I, then, to seek a sustainer other than God, when He is the Sustainer of all things?" And whatever [wrong] any human being commits rests upon himself alone; and no bearer of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden. And in time, unto your Sustainer you all must return: and then He will make you [truly] understand all that on which you were wont to differ. 164 And He it is Who hath made you successors in the earth, and hath raised some of you over others in degrees, that he might prove you by that which He hath vouchsafed unto you. Verily thy Lord is swift in chastising, and verily He is Forgiving, Merciful. 165