EXHORT, then, [O Prophet, all men:] for, by thy Sustainer's grace, thou art neither a soothsayer nor a madman. 29 Or say they: (he is) a poet, (one) for whom we may expect the accident of time? 30 Say (unto them): Except (your fill)! Lo! I am with you among the expectant. 31 Or do their minds command them to [say] this, or are they a transgressing people? 32 Or do they say, "He has invented it himself"? Indeed, they are not willing to believe. 33 Then let them bring a discourse like it, if they speak truly. 34 Or, were they created out of nothing? Or, were they their own creators? 35 Or, did they create the heavens and the earth? No, their belief is not certain! 36 Or are thy Lord's treasuries in their keeping? Or are they the registrars? 37 Or have they a ladder by which they could [ascend to ultimate truths and] listen [to what is beyond the reach of human perception]? Let, then, any of them who have listened [to it] produce a manifest proof [of his knowledge]! 38 Or has He daughters while you have sons? 39 Or, do you ask them for a wage, so that they become weighed down in debt? 40 Or do they have knowledge of the Unknown which they write down? 41 Do they want to hatch some plot? Those who deny the truth will be the victims of the plot. 42 Or have they a god, other than God? Glory be to God, above that which they associate! 43 Even if they were to see a part of the heavens falling down upon them, they would say, "It is only dense cloud". 44 Then leave them, till they encounter their day wherein they shall be thunderstruck, 45 The Day when their plotting will avail them nothing and no help shall be given them. 46 And there surely awaits the evildoers a chastisement beyond even that, but most of them know it not. 47 So wait patiently (O Muhammad) for thy Lord's decree, for surely thou art in Our sight; and hymn the praise of thy Lord when thou uprisest, 48 And for part of the night also praise thou Him,- and at the retreat of the stars! 49