anged into
apes, driven away from the society of men. And we made them an example
unto those who were contemporary with them, and unto those who came
after them, and a warning to the pious. And when Moses said unto his
people, Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow;[28] they answered,
Dost thou make a jest of us? Moses said, God forbid that I should be one
of the foolish. They said, Pray for us unto thy Lord, that he would show
us what cow it is. Moses answered, He saith, She is neither an old cow,
nor a young heifer, but of a middle-age between both: do ye therefore
that which ye are commanded. They said, Pray for us unto the Lord, that
he would show us what color she is of. Moses answered, He saith, She is
a red cow, intensely red, her color rejoiceth the beholders. They said,
Pray for us unto thy Lord, that he would further show us what cow it is,
for several cows with us are like one another, and we, if God please,
will be directed. Moses answered, He saith, She is a cow not broken to
plough the earth, or water the field: a sound one, there is no blemish
in her. They said, Now hast thou brought the truth. Then they sacrificed
her; yet they wanted little of leaving it undone. And when ye slew a
man, and contended among yourselves concerning him, God brought forth to
light that which ye concealed. For we said, Strike the dead body with
part of the sacrificed cow; so God raiseth the dead to life, and showeth
you his signs, that peradventure ye may understand. Then were your
hearts hardened after this, even as stones, or exceeding them in
hardness: for from some stones have rivers burst forth, others have been
rent in sunder, and water hath issued from them, and others have fallen
down for fear of God. But God is not regardless of that which ye do. Do
ye therefore desire that the Jews should believe you? yet a part of them
heard the word of God, and then perverted it, after they had understood
it, against their own conscience. And when they meet the true believers,
they say, We believe: but when they are privately assembled together,
they say, Will ye acquaint them with what God hath revealed unto you,
that they may dispute with you concerning it in the presence of your
Lord? Do ye not therefore understand? Do not they know that God knoweth
that which they conceal as well as that which they publish? But there
are illiterate men among them, who know not the book of the law, but
only lying stories, although they think