appointed time when it
comes will not be deferred, did ye but know!'
[5] Said he, 'My Lord! verily,
I have called my people by night and day, and my call did but increase them in
flight; and, verily, every time I called them, that Thou mightest pardon them,
they placed their fingers in their ears and tried to cover themselves with
their garments and persisted, and were very big with pride. Then I called them
openly; then I published to them and I spoke to them in secret, and I said,
"Ask forgiveness of your Lord, verily, He is very forgiving. [10] He will
send the rain upon you in torrents, and will extend to you wealth and children,
and will make for you gardens, and will make for you rivers. What ails you that
ye hope not for something serious from God, when He has created you by
steps 1? Do ye not see how God has created the seven
heavens in stories, [15] and has set the moon therein for a light, and set the
sun for a lamp? and God has made you grow out of the earth, and then He will
make you return thereto, and will make you come forth therefrom; and God has
made for you the earth a carpet that ye may walk therein in broad paths."'
[20] Said Noah, 'My Lord!
verily, they have rebelled against me, and followed him whose wealth and
children have but added to his loss, and they have plotted a great plot, and
said, "Ye shall surely not leave your gods: ye shall surely neither leave
Wadd, nor Suwâ'h, nor YaghûTH, nor Ya'ûq, nor Nasr 2. and they led astray many."'
And thou