This connects it to the Jews' talk that "Allah is poor and we are rich"...

This connects it to the Jews' talk that "Allah is poor and we are rich", together with their upsetting the Muslims' affairs, rejecting the evidence of messenger-ship and hiding what they had been enjoined to make known. These are the very topics, which these verses deal with. In addition, they strengthen the believers' hearts to remain firm and steadfast; urge them to be patient and courageous; and exhort them to spend in the way of Allah.

QUR'AN: Allah has certainly heard the saying of those who said: "Surely Allah is poor and we are rich": The saying was of the Jews, as may be understood from the next clause which mentions their slaying of the prophets, apart from other indications. They said it after they had heard such divine words as, Who is it that will lend to Allah a goodly loan . . . (2:245).

This view is somewhat strengthened when it is noted that this verse comes immediately after the one, which condemns niggardly person: "And let not those deem, who are niggardly in giving away. . . ". Or may be they said it when they saw the poverty and starvation of most of the believers. They taunted them saying that had their Lord been rich, He would have taken care of them and made them rich; therefore He is but poor while we are rich. QUR'AN: We shall certainly write . . .

the chastisement of burning: Writing here means preservation and recording; or it may refer to the writing in the scroll of their deeds - the net result is the same in both cases. Their killing the prophets unjustly means that they had killed them knowingly and intentionally - not by mistake, ignorance or misunderstanding.

Allah has joined this utterance of theirs to their slaying of the prophets because this was a very grievous word; "al-hariq" (translated here as burning) refers to the Hell-fire; or flame; it has been said that it has a transitive sense, that is, that which burns something. QUR'AN: "This is for what your (own) hands . . .

to the servants": This clause, "what your (own) hands have sent before", means 'whatever deeds you have sent before'; hands have been mentioned because usually they are instrumental in sending a thing somewhere. The clause, "and because Allah is not in the least unjust to the servants", is in conjunction with the words, "what your (own) hands have sent", and they explain the reason for writing and punishment.