(70, 71) “We certainly took the covenant of the Children of Israel and sent messengers to them. Whenever a messenger came to them with what their souls did not desire, some they denied and others they would kill.”

The Exalted says: “We certainly took the covenant of the Children of Israel”—that is, their solemn pledge to believe in Allah and fulfill the duties He had imposed upon them, as discussed previously in His words: “Allah certainly took the covenant of the Children of Israel, and We appointed twelve leaders from among them,” through to the end of those verses. “And We sent messengers to them,” one after another, calling them and continually guiding them. Yet this neither succeeded with them nor benefited them. “Whenever a messenger came to them with what their souls did not desire” of the truth, they denied him, obstinately opposed him, and treated him in the vilest manner: “Some they denied and others they would kill.”