Enquire of them about the town situated by the sea where, when they did not keep the Sabbath, the fish came up to the surface of the water for them; but on days other than the Sabbath the fish did not come. We tried them in this way, for they were disobedient. 163 And when a group among them said, “Why do you preach to a people whom Allah is going to destroy or mete out a severe punishment?” They said, “To have an excuse before your Lord, and that perhaps they may fear.” 164 And when they forgot the advices they had been given, We rescued those who forbade evil, and seized the unjust with a dreadful punishment – the recompense of their disobedience. 165 Therefore when they revoltingly persisted in what they had been forbidden, We said to them: Be (as) apes, despised and hated. 166 Then your Lord declared He would send against them he who would oppress them cruelly till the Day of Resurrection. Swift is the retribution of your Lord, yet surely He is Forgiving, the Most Merciful. 167 And We dispersed them as [separate] communities all over the earth; some of them were righteous, and some of them less than that: and the latter We tried with blessings as well as with afflictions, so that they might mend their ways. 168 Then after them a new generation inherited the Book. They took to the things of this base world, and said: "We shall (surely) be forgiven this." Yet they will accept similar things if they came their way again. Had they not been covenanted in the Book to say nothing in the name of God but the truth? And they have read this in it. The abode of the life to come is better for those who fear God. Can they not comprehend? 169 But those who hold fast to the Book and establish prayer - indeed, We will not allow to be lost the reward of the reformers. 170 ۞ And when We raised the Mount (Sinai) above them as if it were a canopy, and they thought that it would fall upon them; “Accept firmly what We have given you, and remember what is in it, so that you may become pious.” 171