Marked words appear in this translation and in no other English translation of this verse. Common small words and older spellings are not marked. The marks show where the wording differs, not where the meaning does.
Talal Itani· published 2012
We destroyed generations before you when they did wrong. Their messengers came to them with clear signs, but they would not believe. Thus We requite the sinful people.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
We destroyed the generations before you when they did wrong; and their messengers (from Allah) came unto them with clear proofs (of His Sovereignty) but they would not believe. Thus do We reward the guiltyfolk
Sources
Translation Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran·Public domain — copyright term expired
Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran·1930 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work
·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Edward Henry Palmer1840–1882 · published 1880
We have already destroyed generations before you when they did wrong, and there came to them their apostles with manifest signs, but they would not believe. Thus do we reward the sinful people
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And of old destroyed we generations before you, when they had acted wickedly, and their Apostles had come to them with clear tokens of their mission, and they would not believe: - thus reward we the wicked
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
We have formerly destroyed the generations who were before you, Omen of Mecca, when they had acted unjustly, and our apostles had come unto them with evidentmiracles and they would not believe. Thus do We reward the wicked people
Sources
Translation George Sale, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
George Sale, English translation of the Qur'an·1734 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work
·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Other languages (18)Shqip · Albanian
Ne i shkatërruam brezat para jush kur bënë padrejtësi. Atyre u erdhën të dërguarit e tyre me prova të qarta, por nuk deshën të besojnë. Kështu i ndëshkojmë njerëzit keqbërës.
Translated by the team of Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
বাংলা · Bengali
আর (হে মুশরিকরা!) অবশ্যই আমি তোমাদের আগে বহু জাতিকে ধ্বংস করেছি, যখন তারা যুলম করেছিল। আর তাদের কাছে তাদের রাসূলগণ সুস্পষ্ট প্রমাণাদিসহ এসেছিল; কিন্তু তারা ঈমান আনার জন্য প্রস্তুত ছিল না। এভাবে আমি অপরাধী সম্প্রদায়কে প্রতিফল দিয়ে থাকি।(৬)
Translated by the team of Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Dawah Association in Rabwah, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.2
Bosanski · Bosnian
Mi smo narode prije vas uništavali pošto bi nepravdu činili i poslanici njihovi im jasne dokaze donosili. Ali, oni ionako ne bi vjerovali. Tako Mi kažnjavamo ljude prestupnike.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 2.0.4
Hrvatski · Croatian
Mi smo narode prije vas uništavali pošto bi nepravdu činili i poslanici njihovi im jasne dokaze donosili. Ali, oni ionako ne bi vjerovali. Tako Mi kažnjavamo ljude prestupnike.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.1
Fulfulde · Fulani
Gooŋɗii min kallkiino gire adinooɓe on nde ɓe tooñnoo, nulaaɓe maɓɓe ɓeen ngaddani ɓe ɓanngannduyeeji. ɓe wonaano gooŋɗinooɓe. Ko wana nii min njoɓirta yimɓe bonɓe ɓeen.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2
ქართული · Georgian
და ჩვენ უკვე გავანადგურეთ თაობები თქვენამდე, როცა მათ უსამართლობა ჩაიდინეს და მოვიდნენ მათთან მათი შუამავლები ცხადი მტკიცებულებებით, მაგრამ მათ არ ირწმუნეს. ასე მივუზღავთ დამნაშავე ხალხს.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.7
Deutsch · German
Und Wir haben bereits die Generationen vor euch vernichtet, als sie Unrecht taten, als ihre Gesandten mit den klaren Beweisen zu ihnen kamen und sie nicht glauben mochten. Auf diese Weise vergelten Wir dem übeltätigen Volk.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.15
Ελληνικά · Greek
Πράγματι, είχαμε καταστρέψει τα έθνη που ήταν πριν από σας (ω, ειδωλολάτρες) όταν αδίκησαν, και τους ήρθαν οι Αγγελιαφόροι τους με ξεκάθαρα Σημάδια, αλλά δε θα πίστευαν (λόγω της επιμονής τους στο να διαψεύδουν τους Αγγελιαφόρους). Έτσι τιμωρούμε τους κακούς ανθρώπους.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2
हिन्दी · Hindi
और निःसंदेह हमने तुमसे पहले बहुत-से समुदायों को विनष्ट कर दिया, जब उन्होंने अत्याचार किया। हालाँकि उनके रसूल उनके पास खुली निशानियाँ लेकर आए थे, परंतु वे ऐसे नहीं थे कि ईमान लाते। इसी प्रकार हम अपराधी लोगों को बदला दिया करते हैं।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E abbiamo già distrutto dei popoli prima di voi perché erano ingiusti; anche se arrivarono da loro i Messaggeri con le Evidenze, non gli hanno creduto. È così che ripaghiamo il popolo criminale.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2
Lietuvių · Lithuanian
13. Ir iš tiesų, Mes sunaikinome kartas iki jūsų, kai jie blogai elgėsi, nepaisant to, kad jų Pasiuntiniai atėjo pas juos su aiškiais įrodymais, tačiau jie nebuvo tokie, kad patikėtų! Taip Mes atsilyginame žmonėms, kurie yra Mudžrimūn (netikintieji, daugiadieviai, nuodėmiautojai, nusikaltėliai).
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.0
Русский · Russian
Действительно, Мы погубили поколения до вас, когда они поступали несправедливо. Их посланники приходили к ним с ясными знамениями, но они не пожелали уверовать. Так Мы воздаём преступным людям.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.1
Српски · Serbian
Ми смо народе пре вас уништавали зато што нису поверовали кад су им посланици њихови јасне доказе доносили. Нису хтели да верују. Тако Ми кажњавамо народ невернички.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.4
Kiswahili · Swahili
Na hakika tuliviangamiza vizazi vya kabla yenu walipodhulumu, na waliwajia Mitume wao kwa Ishara zilizo wazi, lakini hawakuwa wenye kuamini. Hivyo ndivyo tunavyowalipa kaumu wahalifu.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Vi har förintat generationer före er för deras orättfärdighet. Deras sändebud kom till dem med klara bevis men de vägrade tro. Så straffar vi de obotfärdiga syndarna.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2
Türkçe · Turkish
Andolsun, sizden önceki nice nesilleri peygamberleri kendilerine apaçık deliller getirdikleri hâlde (yalanlayıp) zulmettikleri vakit helâk ettik. Onlar zaten iman edecek değillerdi. İşte biz günahkârlar topluluğunu böyle cezalandırırız.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.4
اردو · Urdu
اور ہم نے تم سے پہلے بہت سے گروہوں کو ہلاک کردیا جب کہ انہوں نے ﻇلم کیا حاﻻنکہ ان کے پاس ان کے پیغمبر بھی دﻻئل لے کر آئے، اور وه ایسے کب تھے کہ ایمان لے آتے؟ ہم مجرم لوگوں کو ایسی ہی سزا دیا کرتے ہیں۔[1]
Translated by Muhammad Ibrahim Junagarhi, developed under the supervision of the Rowwad Translation Center. The original translation is available for the purpose of expressing opinion, evaluation, and continuous development.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.3
About these translations
5 cleared translations, newest first, by year of publication, so the modern English comes before the historical ones. That is an ordering by date, not a judgement. Each is shown complete — this platform never excerpts a translation — and each renders under its translator's name. No translation here is marked as the correct one.
Which translations appear here is set by copyright: they are the ones whose rights could be documented and cleared. The selection is not a judgement that these are the best.
About easy-read
Easy-read
Easy-read is a simplified pronunciation,
not authoritative — a rule-by-rule romanisation, not a reading.
Each verse ends in its pause form, as it is said when you stop there. Pauses inside a verse and other tajwid rules are not shown. It is derived from the Tanzil
Simple edition, while the Arabic above is the
Uthmani edition; both are cleared, but they are not the
same edition and their orthography differs.
Talal Itani2012 If God were to accelerate the ill for the people, as they wish to accelerate the good, their term would have been fulfilled. But We leave those who do not expect Our encounter to blunder in their excesses.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 If Allah were to hasten on for men the ill (that they have earned) as they would hasten on the good, their respite would already have expired. But We suffer those who look not for the meeting with Us to wander blindly on in their contumacy
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And if God should hasten on the bad to men as they would hasten on the good, their appointed time would surely be fulfilled. But we will let those who hope not for our meeting go on in their rebellion, blindly wandering on
John Medows Rodwell1861 Should God hasten evil on men as they fain would hasten their good, then were their end decreed! So leave we those who hope not to meet Us, bewildered in their error
George Sale1734 If God should cause evil to hasten unto men, according to their desire of hastening good, verily their end had been decreed. Wherefore We suffer those who hope not to meet Us at the resurrection, to wander amazedly in their error
Talal Itani2012 Whenever adversity touches the human being, he prays to Us-reclining on his side, or sitting, or standing. But when We have relieved his adversity from him, he goes away, as though he had never called on Us for trouble that had afflicted him. Thus the deeds of the transgressors appear good to them.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And if misfortune touch a man he crieth unto Us, (while reclining) on his side, or sitting or standing, but when We have relieved him of the misfortune he goeth his way as though he had not cried unto Us because of a misfortune that afflicted him. Thus is what they do made (seeming) fair unto the prodigal
Edward Henry Palmer1880 When distress touches man, he calls us to his side, whether sitting or standing; but when we have removed from him his distress, he passes on as though he had not called on us in a distress that touched him. Thus unto the extravagant is made seemly that which they have done
John Medows Rodwell1861 When trouble toucheth a man, he crieth to us, on his side, or sitting, or standing; and when we withdraw his trouble from him, he passeth on as though he had not called on us against the trouble which touched him! Thus are the deeds of transgressors pre-arranged for them
George Sale1734 When evil befalleth a man; he prayeth unto Us lying on his side, or sitting, or standing: But when We deliver him from his affliction, he continueth his former course of life, as though he had not called upon Us to defend him against the evil which had befallen him. Thus was that which the transgressors committed prepared for them
Easy-read (simplified)wa'idhaa tutlaa 'alayhim aayaatunaa bayyinaatin qaala lladheena laa yarjoona liqaa'anaa ti biqur'aanin ghayri haadhaa aw baddilhu qul maa yakoonu lee an ubaddilahu min tilqaa'i nafsee in attabi'u illaa maa yoohaa ilayya innee akhaafu in 'asaytu rabbee 'adhaaba yawmin 'azeem
Talal Itani2012 And when Our clear revelations are recited to them, those who do not hope to meet Us say, "Bring a Quran other than this, or change it." Say, "It is not for me to change it of my own accord. I only follow what is revealed to me. I fear, if I disobeyed my Lord, the torment of a terrible Day."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And when Our clear revelations are recited unto them, they who look not for the meeting with Us say: Bring a Lecture other than this, or change it. Say (O Muhammad): It is not for me to change it of my accord. I only follow that which is inspired in me. Lo! if I disobey my Lord I fear the retribution of an awful Day
Edward Henry Palmer1880 But when our evident signs are recited to them, those who hope not for our meeting say, 'Bring a Qur'an other than this; or change it.' Say, 'It is not for me to change it of my own accord; I do not follow aught but what I am inspired with; verily, I fear, if I rebel against my Lord, the torment of a mighty day
John Medows Rodwell1861 But when our clear signs are recited to them, they who look not forward to meet Us, say, "Bring a different Koran from this, or make some change in it." SAY: It is not for me to change it as mine own soul prompteth. I follow only what is revealed to me: verily, I fear, if I rebel against my Lord, the punishment of a great day
George Sale1734 When our evident signs are recited unto them, they who hope not to meet us at the resurrection, say, bring a different Koran from this; or make some change therein. Answer, it is not fit for me, that I should change it at my pleasure: I follow that only which is revealed unto me. Verily I fear, if I should be disobedient unto my Lord, the punishment of the great day
These figures count the words the translations share. They measure wording, not meaning, and they do not say which translation is right.
Derived measure: mean pairwise Jaccard distance over the
lowercased word sets of the 5 renderings above —
0.53 on a scale
where 0 means identical wording and 1 means no shared words. It is
computed, not judged.
The page says a verse is worded differently only above the cut below. The cut is a stated convention, not a property of the text, and it can be changed.
The cut
0.644
Share of measured verses above it
33%
Verses above it
2,079
Verses measured
6,236
Talal Itani · George Sale0.68
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.62
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.57
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.56
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.55
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.54
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.49
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.48
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.45
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.32
One bar per pair of renderings, longest bar for the pair
sharing fewest words. Every pair is shown; none is singled out.
Method Wording differences — derived 13 September 2026
Method
Mean pairwise Jaccard distance over the lowercased word sets of the cleared translations of each verse. A verse is marked as worded differently when its score falls in the top third of the corpus — the cut set out in Analysis details.
As at
13 September 2026, 10:56 UTC
Gate
verify/divergence_gate.py re-derives and fails on drift
The platform does not say which is right, and does not
characterise what the difference means. The renderings are placed
together so the difference is visible; reading it is the reader's work.
7 sources
stand behind this page. Each is listed once, in the order the page first
cites it, with the licence it was cleared under and what was actually read.
Nothing on this page rests on a source that is not here.
Source Tanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) · Uthmani, Version 1.1
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.
CLEARED. Licence read verbatim from the block embedded in this very file. Ingested exactly as shipped: no normalisation, no stripping of marks, no Unicode recomposition.
Parsed structurally from the EPUB: an h3 names the surah, one p per verse with its number in its own span. An unnumbered p is the basmala and is not a verse, except in surah 1 where the basmala IS verse 1. 112 unnumbered paragraphs were found, which is 114 surahs less surah 1 and surah 9. Text is stored VERBATIM: NFC normalisation and XML entity unescaping only, because CC BY-ND forbids modification.
CLEARED on a licence read first-hand from the translator's own download page, not from an aggregator. Tanzil also hosts this translation, but under a blanket "non-commercial purposes only" term that directs the user to the translator or publisher for permission - a hosting disclaimer, not a grant - so the grant was taken from the licensor directly. The "God" edition was ingested; ClearQuran also publishes an "Allah" edition, differing in how the divine name is rendered, which is not ingested.
CLEARED ON THE WORK, WITH TWO RECORDED CAVEATS ON THIS COPY. (1) Rights basis is the expired copyright term, NOT the redistributing repository's licence. That repository dedicates its contents to the public domain under the Unlicense while also redistributing plainly in-copyright translations (Abdel Haleem, Saheeh International, The Study Quran), so it is dedicating rights it cannot hold and its blanket grant is not relied upon here. (2) The file declares its own upstream as tanzil.net, and Tanzil attaches a non-commercial condition to its TRANSLATION distributions, though not to its Qur'anic text. Since Pickthall's copyright has expired, nobody holds rights in these words and no licence is required from anyone; Tanzil's terms are a contract binding those who download from Tanzil, which we did not. The chain is nonetheless not spotless and Anwar may prefer a clean digitisation of the 1930 printing. NOT VERIFIED: that this digital text matches the 1930 first printing rather than a later revised edition. No page images were collated. Recorded as unverified rather than presented as established. SERVED TEXT DIFFERS FROM THE CITED FILE AT ONE VERSE, 37:97: the file reads "red-hotfire" (a glued token, also in Gutenberg #16955); the served row reads "red-hot fire", restored 2026-09-13 from Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (London: George Allen & Unwin, printed for Alfred A. Knopf; 1930), p. 460, XXXVII 97 - scan archive.org in.ernet.dli.2015.216140, PDF page 475; banked data/derivation-sources/pickthall-1930-dli-2015.216140-text.pdf (sha256 70e81146c97fa3a590243a82e04e349108546074787e2551a78c616202138870) on Anwar Malik's grant.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. The digital edition's upstream is not stated by the redistributor and the printing is unverified. No statement of purpose is recorded for Palmer because none was sourced from his own preface in this pass; nothing is asserted on his behalf.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. TWO edition caveats. (1) The upstream is not stated by the redistributor. (2) Rodwell's own edition PRESENTS THE SURAHS IN HIS OWN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, not the mushaf order — he says so in his preface. This digital text is keyed to mushaf order, so it derives from a restored-order printing (such as the Everyman edition) rather than from Rodwell's own arrangement. Which printing is not stated and has not been established.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. The digital edition's upstream is NOT STATED by the redistributor, so the printing it represents is unverified; Sale's text was reprinted and re-edited many times between 1734 and 1900. Recorded as unverified rather than assumed to be the first edition.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.
CLEARED. Parallel edition, held in ayah_text_variants. It sits alongside the Uthmani spine for search normalisation and is never used to correct it.