۞ And recite thou to them the story of the two sons of Adam truthfully, when they offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted of one of them, and not accepted of the other. 'I will surely slay thee,' said one. 'God accepts only of the godfearing,' said the other. 27 Even if you stretch forth your hand against me to kill, I will not stretch forth my hand to kill you. Surely, I fear Allah, the Lord of the entire universe. 28 Verily would that thou bear my sin and thine own sin, and then thou become of the fellows of the Fire; that is the meed of the wrong-doers. 29 His lower self persuaded him to kill his brother, and he killed him and he became one of the lost. 30 Then Allah sent a raven scratching up the ground, to show him how to hide his brother's naked corpse. He said: Woe unto me! Am I not able to be as this raven and so hide my brother's naked corpse? And he became repentant. 31 For this reason, We made it a law for the children of Israel that the killing of a person for reasons other than legal retaliation or for stopping corruption in the land is as great a sin as murdering all of mankind. However, to save a life would be as great a virtue as to save all of mankind. Our Messengers had come to them with clear authoritative evidence but many of them (Israelites) thereafter started doing wrong in the land. 32 It is but a just recompense for those who make war on God and His apostle, and endeavour to spread corruption on earth, that they are being slain in great numbers, or crucified in great numbers, or have, in result of their perverseness, their hands and feet cut off in great numbers, or are being [entirely] banished from [the face of] the earth: such is their ignominy in this world. But in the life to come [yet more] awesome suffering awaits them 33 except for those who repent before you gain power over them: for you must know that God is forgiving and merciful. 34