The hypocrites seek to outwit God -- but it is He who outwits them. And when they stand up for prayer, they do so reluctantly and to be seen by others, and they hardly remember God at all. 142 They vacillate between the two, belonging neither to one side nor the other. But for him whom God allows to go astray you can never find the way for him. 143 O believers, take not the unbelievers as friends instead of the believers; or do you desire to give God over you a clear authority? 144 Lo! the hypocrites (will be) in the lowest deep of the Fire, and thou wilt find no helper for them; 145 save such as repent, and make amends, and hold fast to God, and make their religion sincerely God's; those are with the believers, and God will certainly give the believers a mighty wage. 146 What would God do with chastising you if you are thankful, and believe? God is All-thankful, All-knowing. 147 ۞ Allah does not like that the evil should be uttered in public except by him who has been wronged. And Allah is Ever All-Hearer, All-Knower. 148 Whether you reveal any good or hide it, or pardon any evil, God is forgiving and all powerful. 149 Those who disbelieve in Allah and His Messengers, and desire to divide between Allah and His Messengers (by believing in Him without them), and say, 'We believe in some (Prophets Moses and Jesus), and disbelieve in some of them (such as Prophet Muhammad)' desiring to take between this (and that) a way (between belief and disbelief) 150 those in truth are the unbelievers; and We have prepared for the unbelievers a humbling chastisement. 151 But as for those who believe in God and His apostles and make no distinction between any of them - unto them, in time, will He grant their rewards [in full]. And God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace. 152