The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

114
The Quran 8: 53
God’s signs, so God punished them for their sins: God is strong and
severe in His punishment. 53 [He did] this because God would never
change a favour He had conferred on a people unless they changed
what was within themselves. God is all hearing, all knowing. 54 They
are indeed like Pharaoh’s people and those before them, who denied
the signs of their Lord: We destroyed them for their sins, and We
drowned Pharaoh’s people – they were all evildoers.
55 The worst creatures in the sight of God are those who reject
Him and will not believe; 56 who, whenever you [Prophet] make a
treaty with them, break it, for they have no fear of God. 57 If you
meet them in battle, make a fearsome example of them to those
who come after them, so that they may take heed. 58 And if you
learn of treachery on the part of any people, throw their treaty
back at them, for God does not love the treacherous. 59 The disbelievers
should not think they have won; they cannot escape.
60 Prepare whatever forces you [believers] can muster, including
warhorses, to frighten off God’s enemies and yours, and warn
others unknown to you but known to God. Whatever you give in
God’s cause will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be
wronged. 61 But if they incline towards peace, you [Prophet] must
also incline towards it, and put your trust in God: He is the All
Hearing, the All Knowing. 62 If they intend to deceive you, God is
enough for you: it was He who strengthened you with His help,
63 and with the believers, and brought their hearts together. Even if
you had given away everything in the earth you could not have done
this, but God brought them together: God is mighty and wise.
64 Prophet, God is enough for you, and for the believers who follow
you. 65 Prophet, urge the believers to fight: if there are twenty of you
who are steadfast, they will overcome two hundred, and a hundred
of you, if steadfast, will overcome a thousand of the disbelievers, for
they are people who do not understand. 66 But God has lightened
your burden for now, knowing that there is weakness in you –a
steadfast hundred of you will defeat two hundred and a steadfast
thousand of you will defeat two thousand, by God’s permission:
God is with the steadfast.
67 It is not right for a prophet to take captives before he has
a Translators use ‘if you fear’, but one of the old meanings of khafa is ‘to know’ and
‘to be certain’.