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.
And if We postponed their punishment until a stated time, they would say, "What holds it back?" On the Day when it reaches them, it will not be averted from them, and what they used to ridicule will besiege them.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Compare translations (4)Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And if We delay for them the doom until a reckoned time, they will surely say: What withholdeth it? Verily on the day when it cometh unto them, it cannot be averted from them, and that which they derided will surround them
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
and if we keep back from them the torment to a stated generation, they will surely say, 'What hinders it?' - Aye! on the day it comes to them there is no turning it away from them, but that shall close in on them at which they mocked
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And if we defer their chastisement to some definite time, they will exclaim, "What keepeth it back?" What! will it not come upon them on a day when there shall be none to avert it from them? And that at which they scoffed shall enclose them in on every side
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And verily if We defer their punishment unto a determinedseason, they will say, what hindreth it from falling on us? Will it not come upon them on a day, wherein there shall be none to avert it from them; and that which they scoffed at shall encompass them
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
Nëse ua shtyjmë dënimin deri në një kohë të caktuar, me siguri, do të thonë: "Çfarë po e pengon (zbritjen e tij)?" Por, kur t'u vijë (dënimi), asgjë s'do të mund t'ua shmangë atë dhe do t'i kaplojë ajo me të cilën talleshin.
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 আমি যদি (দুনিয়াতে) নির্দিষ্ট সময়ের জন্য তাদের থেকে শাস্তি বিলম্বিত করি, তবে তারা অবশ্যই বলবে: ‘কোন জিনিস তাকে (শাস্তিকে) আটকে রাখল? সাবধান ! যেদিন সেটি (শাস্তি) তাদের ওপর নেমেই আসবে, সেদিন তাদের থেকে তা ফেরানো হবে না এবং তারা যা (শাস্তি) নিয়ে ঠাট্টা- বিদ্রুপ করত, তাদেরকে তা ঘেরাও করে ফেলবে।
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
Ako im Mi patnju do određenog roka odgodimo, oni će sigurno reći: "Šta je zadržava?" A onoga dana kad im dođe, neće biti od njih otklonjena i sa svih strana bit će okruženi onim čemu su se rugali.
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
Ako im Mi patnju do određenog roka odgodimo, oni će sigurno reći: "Što je zadržava?" A onoga dana kad im dođe, neće biti od njih otklonjena i sa svih strana bit će okruženi onim čemu su se rugali.
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
Pellet si min neeɓaniiɓe lepte ɗen haa e dumunna limaaɗo, maa ɓe mbi'u: "Ko tonngi ɗe?" nganndee ñande nde arat e mabɓe, ɓe wonataa sureteeɓe e majje; jippoo e maɓɓe ɗuum ko laatinoo heɓe njalkita.
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 თუ ჩვენ გადავუვადებთ მათ სასჯელს განსაზღვრულ დრომდე, უთუოდ იტყვიან: «რა აკავებს მას [სასჯელს]?» ვაი, იმ დღეს, როცა ის მათ ეწვევა, არ იქნება მათგან არიდებული და გარს შემოერტყმებათ მათ ის (ტანჯვა-წამება), რასაც ისინი დასცინოდნენ.
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 wenn Wir ihnen die Strafe für einen bestimmten Zeitraum nach hinten schieben, sagen sie ganz gewiss: „Was hält sie zurück?“ Sicherlich, am Tag, an dem sie über sie kommt, kann sie nicht von ihnen abgewendet werden, und es wird sie das umschließen, worüber sie sich lustig zu machen pflegten.
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
Αν καθυστερούσαμε την τιμωρία τους για ένα προκαθορισμένο χρόνο, θα έλεγαν (χλευάζοντας): «Τι την εμποδίζει (την τιμωρία);» Πράγματι, την ημέρα που θα τους έρθει, δε θα αποτραπεί απ' αυτούς. Kαι θα τους περικυκλώσει (και θα πέσει πάνω τους) αυτό που χλεύαζαν.
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 यदि हम एक गिनी-चुनी अवधि तक उनसे यातना को विलंबित कर दें, तो अवश्य कहेंगे कि किस चीज़ ने उसे रोक रखा है? सुन लो! वह जिस दिन उनपर आ जाएगी, तो उनपर से टाली नहीं जाएगी। और वह (यातना) उन्हें घेर लेगी, जिसकी वे हँसी उड़ाया करते थे।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E se rimandassimo la loro punizione a un termine stabilito, direbbero: «Cosa glielo impedisce?» Il giorno in cui arriverà loro, non avranno scampo e saranno circondati da ciò che deridevano.
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
8. Tačiau, jei Mes atidėsime kančią jiems nustatytam laikui, jie tikrai sakys: „Kas ją užlaiko?“ Iš tiesų, tą dieną, kai ji pasieks juos, niekas nenukreips jos nuo jų, ir jie bus apsupti (arba įkris į) to, iš ko jie šaipėsi!
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
И если Мы отсрочим для них наказание до исчисленного срока, они непременно скажут: «Что же удерживает его?» Знайте же: в тот день, когда оно придёт к ним, оно не будет отвращено от них, и их постигнет то, над чем они насмехались.
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
Ако им Ми одложимо патњу до одређеног рока, они ће сигурно да кажу: „Шта је задржава?“ А онога дана кад им дође, неће да буде отклоњена од њих и са свих страна биће окружени оним чему су се ругали.
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 hata tukiwacheleweshea adhabu mpaka muda uliokwishahisabiwa, wao hakika watasema, "Ni nini kinachoizuia?" Jueni! Siku itakapowajia, basi haitaondolewa kwao. Na yatawazingira yale waliyokuwa wakiyafanyia mzaha.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Och om vi skjuter upp straffet från dem till en bestämd tid säger de: ”Vad håller det tillbaka?” Den dag det kommer kan det inte avvärjas från dem, och just det [straff] de gjort sig lustiga över kommer att omsluta dem helt och hållet.
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, biz onlardan azabı belirli bir süreye kadar geciktirsek, o zaman da mutlaka “Onu ne alıkoyuyor?” derler. İyi bilin ki, azap onlara geleceği gün, kendilerinden bir daha uzaklaştırılmaz ve alay etmekte oldukları şey, kendilerini çepeçevre kuşatmış olur.
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 اگر ہم ان سے عذاب کو گنی چنی مدت تک کے لئے پیچھے ڈال دیں تو یہ ضرور پکار اٹھیں گے کہ عذاب کو کون سی چیز روکے ہوئے ہے، سنو! جس دن وه ان کے پاس آئے گا پھر ان سے ٹلنے واﻻ نہیں پھر تو جس چیز کی ہنسی اڑا رہے تھے وه انہیں گھیر لے گی.[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.
DIN 31635wamā min dābbatin fī l-ʾarḍi ʾillā ʿalā llāhi rizquhā wayaʿlamu mustaqarrahā wamustawdaʿahā kullun fī kitābin mubīnin
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 There is no moving creature on earth but its sustenance depends on God. And He knows where it lives and where it rests. Everything is in a Clear Book.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And there is not a beast in the earth but the sustenance thereof dependeth on Allah. He knoweth its habitation and its repository. All is in a clear Record
Edward Henry Palmer1880 There is no beast that walks upon the earth but its provision is from God. He knows its settlement and its resting-place; all is in the perspicuous Book
John Medows Rodwell1861 There is no moving thing on earth whose nourishment dependeth not on God; he knoweth its haunts and final resting place: all is in the clear Book
George Sale1734 There is no creature which creepeth on the earth, but God provideth its food; and He knoweth the place of its retreat, and where it is laid up. The whole is written in the perspicuous book of his decrees
Talal Itani2012 It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days-and His Throne was upon the waters-in order to test you-which of you is best in conduct. And if you were to say, "You will be resurrected after death," those who disbelieve would say, "This is nothing but plain witchcraft."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days - and His Throne was upon the water - that He might try you, which of you is best in conduct. Yet if thou (O Muhammad) sayest: Lo! ye will be raised again after death! those who disbelieve will surely say: This is naught but mere magic
Edward Henry Palmer1880 He it is who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and His throne was upon the water that He might try you, which of you did best. But shouldst thou say, 'Ye will be raised up after death,' those who misbelieve will surely say, 'This is naught but obvious sorcery
John Medows Rodwell1861 And He it is who hath made the Heavens and the Earth in six days: His throne had stood ere this upon the waters, that He might make proof which of you would excel in works. And if thou say, "After death ye shall surely be raised again," the infidels will certainly exclaim, "This is nothing but pure sorcery
George Sale1734 It is He who hath created the heavens and the earth in six days, -- but his throne was above the waters before the creation thereof, -- that He might prove you, and see which of you would excel in works. If thou say, ye shall surely be raised again, after death; the unbelievers will say, this is nothing but manifest sorcery
Talal Itani2012 If We give the human being a taste of mercy from Us, and then withdraw it from him, he becomes despairing and ungrateful.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And if we cause man to taste some mercy from Us and afterward withdraw it from him, lo! he is despairing, thankless
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And if we make man taste of mercy from us and then strip it off from him, verily, he is despairing, ungrateful
John Medows Rodwell1861 And if we cause man to taste our mercy, and then deprive him of it, verily, he is despairing, ungrateful
George Sale1734 Verily, if We cause man to taste mercy from Us, and afterwards take it away from him; he will surely become desperate, and ungrateful
Talal Itani2012 And if We give him a taste of prosperity, after some adversity has afflicted him, he will say, "Troubles have gone away from me." He becomes excited and proud.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And if We cause him to taste grace after some misfortune that had befallen him, he saith: The ills have gone from me. Lo! he is exultant, boastful
Edward Henry Palmer1880 and if we make him taste of comfort after distress has touched him, he will surely say, 'The evils have gone away from me;' verily, then he is joyful and boasting
John Medows Rodwell1861 And if after trouble hath befallen him we cause him to taste our favour, he will surely exclaim, "The evils are passed away from me." Verily, he is joyous, boastful
George Sale1734 And if we cause him to taste favour, after an affliction hath befallen him, he will surely say, the evils which I suffered are passed from me; and he will become joyful and insolent
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 —
0.65 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
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.71
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.70
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.69
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.69
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.67
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.66
Talal Itani · George Sale0.65
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.63
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.59
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.46
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.
Sources, editions and licences for everything above
ReceiptsSource fact
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.