AND [thus], indeed, did We grace David with Our favour:* “O you mountains! Sing with him the praise of God! And [likewise] you birds!"* And We softened all sharpness in him,*

But speak unto him in a mild manner, so that he might bethink himself or [at least] be filled with apprehension.*

Whatever [of their] palm trees you may have cut down, [O believers,] or left standing on their roots, was [done] by God's leave,* and in order that He might confound the iniquitous.

And it was by God's grace that thou [O Prophet] didst deal gently with thy followers:* for if thou hadst been harsh and hard of heart, they would indeed have broken away from thee. Pardon them, then, and pray that they be forgiven. And take counsel with them in all matters of public concern; then, when thou hast decided upon a course of action, place thy trust in God: for, verily, God loves those who place their trust in Him.*

God bestows from on high* the best of all teachings in the shape of a divine writ fully consistent within itself, repeating each statement [of the truth] in manifold forms* [a divine writ] whereat shiver the skins of all who of their Sustainer stand in awe: [but] in the end their skins and their hearts do soften at the remembrance of [the grace of] God. Such is God's guidance: He guides therewith him that wills [to be guided]* whereas he whom God lets go astray can never find any guide*