Chapter 97: Woe to them who act impiously, who laud and honour the word of falsehood.

1Woe to them who act impiously, who laud and honour the word of falsehood. You have been lost in perdition; and have never led a virtuous life.

2Woe to you who change the words of integrity. They transgress against the everlasting decree;

3And cause the heads of those who are not sinners to be trodden down upon the earth.

4In those days you, O ye righteous, shall have been deemed worthy of having your prayers rise up in remembrance; and shall have deposited them in testimony before the angels, that they might record the sins of sinners in the presence of the Most High.

5In those days the nations shall be overthrown; but the families of the nations shall rise again in the day of perdition.

6In those days they who become pregnant shall go forth, carry off their children, and forsake them. Their offspring shall slip from them, and while suckling them shall they forsake them; they shall never return to them, and never instruct their beloved.

7Again I swear to you, ye sinners, that crime has been prepared for the day of blood, which never ceases.

8They shall worship stones, and engrave golden, silver, and wooden images. They shall worship impure spirits, demons, and every idol, in temples; but no help shall be obtained for them. Their hearts shall become impious through their folly, and their eyes be blinded with mental superstition. In their visionary dreams shall they be impious and superstitious, lying in all their actions, and worshipping a stone. Altogether shall they perish.

9But in those days blessed shall they be, to whom the word of wisdom is delivered; who point out and pursue the path of the Most High; who walk in the way of righteousness, and who act not impiously with the impious.

10They shall be saved.

11Woe to you who expand the crime of your neighbour; for in hell shall you be slain.

12Woe to you who lay the foundation of sin and deceit, and who are bitter on earth; for on it shall you be consumed.

13Woe to you who build your houses by the labour of others, every part of which is constructed with brick, and with the stone of crime; I tell you, that you shall not obtain peace.

14Woe to you who despise the extent of the everlasting inheritance of your fathers, while your souls follow after idols; for to you there shall be no tranquillity.

15Woe to them who commit iniquity, and give aid to blasphemy, who slay their neighbour until the day of the great judgment; for your glory shall fall; malevolence shall He put into your hearts, and the spirit of his wrath shall stir you up, that every one of you may perish by the sword.

16Then shall all the righteous and the holy remember your crimes. shall be found for them. with the fear of their heart. and fear. every structure of which is brick.