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
What prevented people from acceptingfaith, when guidance has come to them, and from seeking their Lord's forgiveness? Unless they are waiting for the precedent of the ancients to befall them, or to have the punishment come upon them face to face.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And naught hinderethmankind from believing when the guidance cometh unto them, and from asking forgiveness of their Lord unless (it be that they wish) that the judgment of the men of old should come upon them or (that) they should be confronted with the Doom
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
Naught prevented men from believing when the guidance came to them, or from asking pardon of their Lord, except the coming on them of the course of those of yore, or the coming of the torment before their eyes
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And what, now that guidance is come to them, letteth men from believing and from asking forgiveness of their Lord - unless they wait till that the doom of the ancients overtake them, or the chastisement come upon them in the sight of the universe
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Yet nothing hindreth men from believing, now a direction is come unto them, and from asking pardon of their Lord, excepting that they wait until the punishment of their predecessors come to be inflicted on them, or that the chastisement of the nextlife come upon them publicly
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
Çfarë i pengoi njerëzit të besonin kur u erdhi udhëzimi e të kërkonin falje nga Zoti i tyre, përveç kërkesës së tyre që t'u vinte shembulli i (ndëshkimit të) popujve të mëparshëm ose t'u vinte dënimi para syve?!
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
মানুষদেরকে ঈমান আনা থেকে, যখন তাদের কাছে হিদায়াত এসেছে এবং তাদের রবের কাছে ক্ষমা প্রার্থনা করা থেকে কোনো কিছুই বিরত রাখেনি; তবে (তাদের অবাধ্যতা ও ঔদ্ধত্যের কারণে) তারা এটাই কামনা করেছে যে, তাদের ওপর পূর্ববর্তী জাতিদের মতো (আল্লাহর নির্ধারিত) শাস্তির নিয়ম নেমে আসুক, অথবা তাদের সামনে সরাসরি শাস্তি এসে উপস্থিত হোক।
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
A ljude, kada im dolazi uputa, odvraća od vjerovanja i od toga da od Gospodara svoga mole oprosta samo to što očekuju sudbinu drevnih naroda ili što čekaju da ih snađe kazna naočigled svega svijeta.
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
A ljude, kada im dolazi uputa, odvraća od vjerovanja i od toga da od Gospodara svoga mole oprosta samo to što očekuju sudbinu drevnih naroda ili što čekaju da ih snađe kazna naočigled svega svijeta.
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
Haɗaani yimɓe ɓen nde ɓe gooŋɗinta ɓe insinanoo Joomi maɓɓe tuma nde Peewal ngal arnoo e maɓɓe, si wonaa nde arata e maɓɓe sunna aranɓe ɓen maaɗun nde arata e maɓɓe lepte ɗen ko ɗe peeñuɗe.
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 ხალხს არ აბრკოლებდა არაფერი იმისგან, რომ ერწმუნათ და ეთხოვათ თავიანთი უფლის მიტევება, მას შემდეგ რაც მათთან მოვიდა მართალი გზის მაჩვენებელი [ყურანი], გარდა იმისა, რომ ისინი ელოდნენ ან წარსულ თემებზე მოსულ სასჯელის მაგალითს [რაც დაცინვით სთხოვეს შუამავალს], ან რომ მათ დაატყდებოდათ სასჯელი პირდაპირ თვალწინ.
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 nichts anderes hielt die Menschen davon ab, zu glauben, als die Rechtleitung zu ihnen kam, und ihren Herrn um Vergebung zu bitten, außer (ihre anmaßende Forderung), dass an ihnen nach der Gesetzmäßigkeit der Früheren verfahren werde oder dass die Strafe vor ihren Augen über sie komme.
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
Δεν εμπόδισε τους ανθρώπους να πιστέψουν, όταν τους ήρθε η καθοδήγηση (το Κορ’άν) και να ζητήσουν συγχώρεση από τον Κύριό τους, παρά μόνο (αυτό που ζήτησαν από τον Προφήτη, από πείσμα) να τους έρθει ο επαναλαμβανόμενος κανόνας του Αλλάχ (δηλ. η τιμωρία Του) που είχε έρθει στα προηγούμενα άδικα έθνη ή να τους έρθει η τιμωρία μπροστά στα μάτια τους.
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 जब लोगों के पास मार्गदर्शन आ गया, तो उन्हें ईमान लाने और अपने पालनहार से क्षमा याचना करने से केवल इस बात ने रोका कि उनको भी पहले लोगों जैसा मामला पेश आ जाए या यातना उनके सामने आ खड़ी हो।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E cosa impedisce agli uomini di credere, dato che è arrivata loro la Guida? E chiedono perdono al loro Dio, perché non tocchi loro la sorte dei loro predecessori o gli arrivi subito la punizione.
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
55. Ir niekas nesulaiko žmonių nuo tikėjimo, (dabar) kai teisingas vedimas (Koranas) atėjo jiems, ir nuo prašymo savo Viešpaties Atleidimo išskyrus tai, kad sentėvių būdai kartojami jiems (t. y. Allaho nulemtas jų sunaikinimas) arba jiems veidas į veidą pristatyta kančia?
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 ничто не удержало людей от того, чтобы уверовать, когда к ним пришло верное руководство, и просить прощения у своего Господа, кроме того, что их должна постигнуть участь прежних народов или наказание явится к ним лицом к лицу.
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
А људе, кад им долази упута, одвраћа од веровања и од тражења опроста од свог Господара, само то што очекују судбину древних народа, или то што очекују очиту казну!
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 hakikuwazuia watu kuamini ulipowajia uongofu, na kuomba maghfira kwa Mola wao Mlezi, isipokuwa iwafikie desturi ya wale wa mwanzo, au iwafikie adhabu jahara.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Och det enda som höll människorna tillbaka från att tro och söka sin Herres förlåtelse, när vägledningen nådde dem, var [deras hånfulla och utmanande begäran] att drabbas av samma öde som tidigare folk, eller att straffet skulle manifestera sig mitt framför dem.
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
İnsanlara hidayet geldikten sonra onların iman etmelerine ve Rablerinden mağfiret dilemelerine alıkoyan tek şey; ancak öncekilerin başına gelen sünnetin kendilerine de gelip çatmasını yahut onlara gözleri önünde azabın gelmesini beklemeleridir.
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
لوگوں کے پاس ہدایت آچکنے کے بعد انہیں ایمان ﻻنے اور اپنے رب سے استغفار کرنے سے صرف اسی چیز نے روکا کہ اگلے لوگوں کا سا معاملہ انہیں بھی پیش آئے[1] یا ان کے سامنے کھلم کھلا عذاب آموجود ہوجائے.[2]
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 And the sinners will see the Fire, and will realize that they will tumble into it. They will find no deliverance from it.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And the guilty behold the Fire and know that they are about to fall therein, and they find no way of escape thence
Edward Henry Palmer1880 and the sinners shall see the fire, and shall think that they are going to fall therein, and shall find no escape therefrom
John Medows Rodwell1861 And the wicked shall see the fire, and shall have a foreboding that they shall be flung into it, and they shall find no escape from it
George Sale1734 And the wicked shall see hell fire; and they shall know that they shall be thrown into the same, and they shall find no way to avoid it
DIN 31635walaqad ṣarrafnā fī hāḏā l-qurʾāni lilnnāsi min kulli maṯalin wakāna l-ʾinsānu ʾakṯara šayʾin ǧadalan
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 We have elaborated in this Quran for the people every kind of example, but the human being is a most argumentative being.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And verily We have displayed for mankind in this Qur'an all manner of similitudes, but man is more than anything contentious
Edward Henry Palmer1880 We have turned about in this Qur'an for men every parable; but man is ever at most things a caviller
John Medows Rodwell1861 And now in this Koran we have presented to man similitudes of every kind: but, at most things is man a caviller
George Sale1734 And now have We variously propounded unto men, in this Koran, a parable of every kind; but man cavilleth at most things therein
Talal Itani2012 We send the messengers only as deliverers of good news and warners. Those who disbelieve argue with false argument, in order to defeat the truth thereby. They take My Verses, and the warnings, for a joke.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 We send not the messengers save as bearers of good news and warners. Those who disbelieve contend with falsehood in order to refute the Truth thereby. And they take Our revelations and that wherewith they are threatened as a jest
Edward Henry Palmer1880 We sent not prophets save as heralds of glad tidings and as warners; but those who misbelieve wrangle with vain speech to make void the truth therewith; and they take my signs and the warnings given them as a jest
John Medows Rodwell1861 We send not our Sent Ones but to announce and to warn: but the infidels cavil with vain words in order to refute the truth; and they treat my signs and their own warnings with scorn
George Sale1734 We send not our messengers, but to bear good tidings, and to denounce threats. Those who believe not, dispute with vain arguments, that they may thereby render the truth of no effect: And they hold my signs, and the admonitions which have been made them, in derision
Talal Itani2012 Who does greater wrong than he, who, when reminded of his Lord's revelations, turns away from them, and forgets what his hands have put forward? We have placed coverings over their hearts, lest they understand it, and heaviness in their ears. And if you call them to guidance, they will not be guided, ever.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And who doth greater wrong than he who hath been reminded of the revelations of his Lord, yet turneth away from them and forgetteth what his hands send forward (to the Judgment)? Lo! on their hearts We have placed coverings so that they understand not, and in their ears a deafness. And though thou call them to the guidance, in that case they can never be led aright
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Who is more unjust than he who, being reminded of the signs of his Lord, turns away therefrom, and forgets what his hands have done before? verily, we will place veils upon their hearts lest they should understand, and dullness in their ears! And if thou shouldst call them to the guidance, they will not be guided then for ever
John Medows Rodwell1861 But who is worse than he who when told of the signs of his Lord turneth him away and forgetteth what in time past his hands have wrought? Truly we have thrown veils over their hearts lest they should understand this Koran, and into their ears a heaviness: And if thou bid them to "the guidance" yet will they not even then be guided ever
George Sale1734 And who is more unjust than he who hath been acquainted with the signs of his Lord, and retireth afar off from the same, and forgetteth that which his hands have formerly committed? Verily We have cast veils over their hearts, lest they should understand the Koran, and into their ears thickness of hearing: If thou invite them to the true direction, yet will they not therefore be directed for ever
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 —
0.70 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 · Edward Henry Palmer0.79
Talal Itani · George Sale0.79
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.74
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.74
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.73
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.72
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.68
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.67
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.59
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.59
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.