'And likewise' means that the severe punishment 'We reward' those who have exceeded in following their desires and have become arrogant about following Our commands 'and have not believed in the signs of their Lord.' They have denied His kindness either by disbelief or by acting like those who deny.

And when it was mentioned that this misguided one was in the world punished by hardship, and some of what he has in the Hereafter was mentioned, he said, swearing by what he has of disbelief: 'And certainly the punishment of the Hereafter' of any kind it may be 'is more severe' than the punishment of this world 'and more lasting' than it, for indeed this world is a place of transience and a location of removal and departure.