۞ 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 '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 Lo! I would rather thou shouldst bear the punishment of the sin against me and thine own sin and become one of the owners of the fire. That is the reward of evil-doers. 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 God sent a raven which scratched the ground in order to show him how to hide the nakedness of his brother. "Alas, the woe," said he, "that I could not be even like the raven and hide the nakedness of my brother," and was filled with remorse. 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 The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His Noble Messenger and cause turmoil in the land is that they be all be killed or crucified, or their hands and feet cut off from alternate sides, or they be banished far away from the land; this is their degradation in the world, and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment. 33 But those who repent before they are subdued should know that God is forgiving and kind. 34