And when this necessitated their taking, He referred to what the context required of the reason I mentioned by His saying: ﴿And your Lord﴾, indicating by this name what the description necessitated of kindness in taking from those who take from them and delaying others for the judgment of its end; then He informed about Him with what was appropriate of His attributes, saying: ﴿The Most Forgiving﴾, meaning He alone is the one who conceals sins, either by erasing them or by forbearance regarding them until a time. ﴿The Possessor of Mercy﴾, meaning [the one who] deals - and He is capable - with the causes of anger with the treatment of the merciful through honor; then He supported this with His saying: ﴿If He were to hold them accountable﴾, meaning these who have wronged you and harmed you, and He knows that they do not believe if He were to treat them with the treatment of the one who holds accountable ﴿for what they earned﴾ at the time of their earning, ﴿He would hasten for them the punishment﴾ one after another. However, He does not hasten for them that ﴿But for them is a promised time﴾ which He will bring them to in it, and it indicates that His promise is not like the promise of others (p-95) from the incapable, by His saying indicating the perfection of His power: ﴿They will not find besides Him﴾ [meaning -] the promise ﴿a refuge﴾, meaning a shelter that will save them from it. So when their promised time comes, We will destroy them in it with the first of their wrongdoing and the last of it.