Verily those who brought forward the calumny were a small band among you. Deem it not an evil for you; nay, it was good for you. Unto every one of them shall be that which he hath earned of the sin, and he among them who undertook the bulk of it - for him shall be a torment mighty. 11 Why did not the believing men and the believing women, when you heard it, think well of their own people, and say: This is an evident falsehood? 12 Why did they not produce four witnesses? Since they produce not witnesses, they verily are liars in the sight of Allah. 13 But for God's bounty to you and His mercy in the present world and the world to come there would have visited you for your mutterings a mighty chastisement. 14 When you received it with your tongues and said with your mouths that of which you had no knowledge and thought it was insignificant while it was, in the sight of Allah, tremendous. 15 And why, when you heard it, did you not say, 'It is not for us to speak about this; glory be to Thee! This is a mighty calumny'? 16 Allah admonishes you that you should not return to the like of it ever again if you are believers. 17 for God makes [His] messages clear unto you - and God is all-knowing, Wise! 18 Those who desire that indecencies should spread among the believers, will have a painful chastisement in this world and the Hereafter. God knows, and you do not know. 19 And were it not for Allah’s munificence and His mercy upon you, and that Allah is Forgiving, Most Merciful – you would have tasted its outcome. 20