And question them concerning the township which was bordering the sea, when they transgressed the Sabbath, when their fish came to them on the day of their Sabbath, swimming shorewards, but on the day they kept not Sabbath, they came not unto them. Even so We were trying them for their ungodliness. 163 And when a party of them said: Why do you admonish a people whom Allah would destroy or whom He would chastise with a severe chastisement? They said: To be free from blame before your Lord, and that haply they may guard (against evil). 164 And when they forgot the advices they had been given, We rescued those who forbade evil, and seized the unjust with a dreadful punishment – the recompense of their disobedience. 165 So when they exceeded the bounds of that which they were prohibited We said unto them: be ye apes despised. 166 Behold! thy Lord did declare that He would send against them, to the Day of Judgment, those who would afflict them with grievous penalty. Thy Lord is quick in retribution, but He is also Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. 167 And We cut them up into nations in the earth, some of them righteous, and some of them otherwise; and We tried them with good things and evil, that haply they should return. 168 Their descendants who inherited the Book gained (by bribery only) worthless things from the worldly life saying, "We shall be forgiven (for what we have done). They would have even doubled such gains if they could have received more. Did they not make a covenant (with God) in the Book not to speak any thing other than the Truth about God and to study its contents well? The life hereafter is much better for the pious ones. Will you not then think? 169 And those who hold fast to the Book, and perform the prayer -- surely We leave not to waste the wage of those who set aright. 170 ۞ The day We shook the mountain above them like an awning, and they feared it would fall over them, (We said): "Hold fast to what We have given you, and bear in mind what is (said) therein so that you may take heed." 171