The hypocrites, both men and women, proceed one from another. They enjoin the wrong, and they forbid the right, and they withhold their hands (from spending for the cause of Allah). They forget Allah, so He hath forgotten them. Lo! the hypocrites, they are the transgressors. 67 God - has promised the hypocrites, both men and women - as well as the [outright] deniers of the truth - the fire of hell, therein to abide: this shall be their allotted portion. For, God has rejected them, and long-lasting suffering awaits them. 68 like that of those who lived before you, whose power, wealth, and children were much greater than yours. They enjoyed their share of the worldly gains and you, also, like them, have enjoyed yours. You have been sneaking among the people to cause trouble, just as they had been doing before you. Such people's deeds are devoid of all virtue both in this life and in the life hereafter. They indeed are lost. 69 Have, then, the stories of those who preceded them never come within the ken of these [hypocrites and deniers of the truth]? - [the stories] of Noah's people, and of [the tribes of] 'Ad and Thamud, and of Abraham's people, and of the folk of Madyan, and of the cities that were overthrown? To [all of] them their apostles had come with all evidence of the truth [but they rejected them:] and so it was not God who wronged them [by His punishment,] but it was they who wronged themselves. 70 The believers, both men and women, are friends to each other; they enjoin what is good and forbid evil, they attend to their prayers and pay the alms and obey God and His Messenger. On these God will have mercy, for God is almighty and wise. 71 God has promised the believers, both men and women, Gardens through which rivers flow, wherein they will abide, and fine dwelling places in Gardens of eternity. But the good pleasure of God is greater still. That is the supreme achievement. 72