۞ Have you not seen those who have become hypocrites? They say to those of their brethren who disbelieve from among the followers of the Book: If you are driven forth, we shall certainly go forth with you, and we will never obey any one concerning you, and if you are fought against, we will certainly help you, and Allah bears witness that they are most surely liars. 11 [for] if those [to whom they have pledged themselves] are indeed driven away, they will not go forth with them; and if war is waged against them, they will not come to their succour; and even if they [try to] succour them, they will most certainly turn their backs [in flight,] and in the end will [themselves] find no succour. 12 Surely they have greater dread for you in their hearts than for Allah. That is because they are a people who are devoid of understanding. 13 They will not fight against you all together except in fortified cities, or from behind walls. Their valour is great, among themselves; you think of them as a host; but their hearts are scattered; that is because they are a people who have no sense. 14 On the likeness of those (who suffered) a short time before them, they taste the ill-effects of their own conduct, and theirs is painful punishment. 15 Like Satan, when he said to man, 'Disbelieve'; then, when he disbelieved, he said, 'Surely I am quit of you. Surely I fear God, the Lord of all Being.' 16 Thus, in the end, both [the deniers of the truth and the hypocrites] will find themselves in the fire, therein to abide: for such is the recompense of evildoers. 17