۞ (Muhammad) tell them the true story of the two sons of Adam (Abel and Cain). Each one of them offered a sacrifice. God accepted the sacrifice of one of them (Abel) but not that of the other (Cain) who then said to his brother, "I shall certainly kill you." (Abel) replied, "God only accepts the offerings of the pious ones. 27 'Yet if thou stretchest out thy hand against me, to slay me, I will not stretch out my hand against thee, to slay thee; I fear God, the Lord of all Being. 28 Surely I wish that you should bear the sin committed against me and your own sin, and so you would be of the inmates of the fire, and this is the recompense of the unjust. 29 But the other's passion drove him to slaying his brother; and he slew him: and thus 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 Therefore We ordained for the Children of Israel that he who slays a soul unless it be (in punishment) for murder or for spreading mischief on earth shall be as if he had slain all mankind; and he who saves a life shall be as if he had given life to all mankind. And indeed again and again did Our Messengers come to them with clear directives; yet many of them continued to commit excesses on earth. 32 The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom; 33 But those who repent before they are subdued should know that God is forgiving and kind. 34