Tell My bondmen to speak that which is kindlier. Lo! the devil soweth discord among them. Lo! the devil is for man an open foe. 53 Your Lord is Best Aware of you. If He will, He will have mercy on you, or if He will, He will punish you. We have not sent thee (O Muhammad) as a warden over them. 54 We have given preference to some Prophets over others and We gave the psalms to David. 55 SAY: "Call upon those [beings] whom you imagine [to be endowed with divine powers] beside Him and [you will find that] they have it not in their power to remove any affliction from you, or to shift it [elsewhere]." 56 Those they call upon are themselves seeking the means to come to their Lord, which of them shall be nearer; they hope for His mercy, and fear His chastisement. Surely thy Lord's chastisement is a thing to beware of. 57 There is not a township but We shall destroy it ere the Day of Resurrection, or punish it with dire punishment. That is set forth in the Book (of Our decrees). 58 Nothing prevented Us from sending the signs but that the ancients belied them. To Thamood, We brought the shecamel as a visible (sign), yet they wronged her. We do not send signs except to frighten. 59 When We said to you: "Verily your Lord circumscribes mankind," and showed you the vision and the accursed tree of the Qur'an, it was as a bone of contention for men. Thus do We (instil) fear in them; but they only transgress the more. 60