The 12 Tribes of Israel

4 minutes • 685 words

¹⁵⁹ Among the people of Moses is a community that guides by truth, and thereby does justice.

¹⁶⁰ We divided them into 12 tribes.

The people asked Moses for something to drink and so We told him to strike the rock with your staff.

Whereupon 12 springs gushed from it. Each group recognized its drinking-place.

We:

shaded them with clouds
sent down on them manna and quails: “Eat of the good things We have provided for you.”

¹⁶¹ We said to them:

“Settle this town,
eat therein whatever you wish
speak modestly
enter the gate in humility—We will forgive your sins, and will promote the righteous."

¹⁶² But the wicked among them substituted other words. So We sent down on them a plague from the sky.

Ask them about the town by the sea, when they violated the Sabbath. When they observed the Sabbath, their fish would come to them abundantly.

But when they violated the Sabbath, their fish would not come to them. Thus We tried them because they disobeyed.

And when a group of them said:

“Why do you counsel a people whom Enki will annihilate, or punish with a severe punishment?”

They said:

“As an excuse to your Lord, and so that they may become righteous.”

Then, when they neglected what they were reminded of, We saved those who prohibited evil, and We seized those who did wrong with a terrible punishment, because of their sinfulness.
Then, when they rebelled against the commands to refrain, We said to them, “Be des- picable apes.”
Your Lord has announced that, He would send against them, until the Day of Resurrection, those who would inflict terrible suffering upon them. Your Lord is swift in retribution, yet He is Forgiving and Merciful.
And We scattered them into communities on earth. Some of them righteous, and some of them short of that. And We tested them with fortunes and misfortunes, so that they may return.
They were succeeded by generations who inherited the Scripture and chose the materials of this world, saying, “We will be forgiven.”

Should similar materials come their way, they would again seize them. Did they not make a covenant to uphold the Scripture, and to not say about Enki except the truth? Did they not study its contents?

But the Home of the Hereafter is better for the cautious; will you not understand?

Those who adhere to the Scripture, and practice prayer—We will not waste the reward of the reformers.
And when We suspended the mountain over them, as if it was an umbrella, and they thought it would fall on them:

Enki
Take what We have given you with determination and remember what is in it that you might fear Enki

¹⁷² When Your Lord summoned the descendants of Adam, and made them testify about themselves. “Am I not your Lord?”

They said, “Yes, we testify.”

Thus you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, “We were unaware of this.”

Nor can you Say, “Our ancestors practiced idolatry before; and we are their descendants who came after them; will you destroy us for what the falsifiers did?”
We thus elaborate the revelations, so that they may return.
And relate to them the story of him to whom We delivered Our signs, but he detached himself from them, so Satan went after him, and he became one of the perverts.
Had We willed, We could have elevated him through them; but he clung to the ground, and followed his desires.

His metaphor is that of a dog: if you chase it, it pants; and if you leave it alone, it pants.

Such is the metaphor of the people who deny Our signs.

So tell the tale, so that they may ponder.

177-178. Evil is the metaphor of the people who reject Our signs and wrong themselves.

We have destined for Hell multitudes of jinn and humans. They have hearts with which they do not understand. They have eyes with which they do not see. They have ears with which they do not hear.

These are like cattle. In fact, they are further astray.