We shall tell you their story as it really was. They were young men who believed in their Lord, and on whom We bestowed further guidance. 13 and endowed their hearts with strength, so that they stood up and said [to one another]: "Our Sustainer is the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth. Never shall we invoke any deity other than Him: [if we did,] we should indeed have uttered an enormity! 14 These our people have taken to them other gods, apart from Him. Ah, if only they would bring some clear authority regarding them! But who does greater evil than he who forges against God a lie? 15 (They were told), "Now that you have abandoned them and what they worship instead of God, seek refuge in the cave. God will, certainly, grant you mercy and provide you with help to safely get out of this trouble." 16 ۞ And [for many a year] thou might have seen the sun, on its rising, incline away from their cave on the right, and on its setting, turn aside from them on the left, while they lived on in that spacious chamber, [bearing witness to] this of God's messages: He whom God guides, he alone has found the right way; whereas for him whom He lets go astray thou canst never find any protector who would point out the right way. 17