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 when there cometh unto them a messenger from Allah, confirming that which they possess, a party of those who have received the Scripture fling the Scripture of Allah behind their backs as if they knew not
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
Compare translations (4)Talal Itani· published 2012
And when there came to them a messenger from God, confirming what they had, a faction of those who were given the Book threw the Book of God behind their backs, as if they do not know.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
And when there comes to them an apostle confirming what they have, a part of those who have received the Book repudiateGod's book, casting it behind their backs as though they did not know
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And when there came to them an apostle from God, affirming the previousrevelationsmade to them, some of those to whom the Scriptures were given, threw the Book of God behind their backs as if they knew it not
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And when there came unto them an Apostle from God, confirming that scripture which was with them, some of those to whom the scriptures were given, cast the book of God behind their backs, as if they knew it not
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
Mirëpo, kur u erdhi një i Dërguar nga Allahu (Muhamedi), i cili vërtetonte atë që kishin ata (Teuratin), një grup prej atyre që u ishte dhënë Libri e hodhën pas shpine Librin e Allahut, sikur nuk dinin asgjë.
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 যখন আল্লাহর পক্ষ থেকে তাদের নিকট একজন রাসূল (মুহাম্মাদ) আসলো, তাদের কাছে যা রয়েছে তার সত্যায়নকারী হিসেবে, তখন যাদেরকে ইতঃপূর্বে কিতাব দেয়া হয়েছিলো তাদের একদল আল্লাহর কিতাবকে এমনভাবে তাদের পিছনে ছুঁড়ে ফেললো, যেন তারা এ সম্পর্কে কিছুই জানেই না।
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 kada im je od Allaha Poslanik došao, potvrđujući da je istinito ono što već imaju, dio onih kojima je Knjiga data za leđa svoja Allahovu knjigu su odbacili, kao da oni ne znaju.
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 kada im je od Allaha Poslanik došao, potvrđujući da je istinito ono što već imaju, dio onih kojima je Knjiga data za leđa svoja Allahovu Knjigu su odbacili, kao da oni ne znaju.
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
Nde Nulaaɗo Alla ari e maɓɓe ombo goongɗina ko ɓe njogii koo, woodi heen sete salii rontii deftere Alla nde wa'i no ɓe nganndaa nii.
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 როცა მათთან მოვიდა ალლაჰისგან მოციქული
[მუჰამმადი (ყურანით)], რომელიც ადასტურებდა იმ ჭეშმარიტებას, რაც მათთან [იუდეველებთან] იყო, მათგან ნაწილმა, ვისაც მიეცა წიგნი, ალლაჰის წიგნი ზურგს უკან მოისროლეს, თითქოს მათ არ იცოდნენ.
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 als (nun) zu ihnen ein Gesandter von Allah kam, das bestätigend, was ihnen (an Offenbarungen) bereits vorlag, hat eine Gruppe von denjenigen, denen die Schrift gegeben wurde, das Buch Allahs hinter ihren Rücken geworfen, als ob sie nicht Bescheid wüssten.
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
Και όταν ήρθε σ’ αυτούς ένας Αγγελιαφόρος (ο Μωχάμμαντ) από τον Αλλάχ επιβεβαιώνοντας αυτό που ήταν μαζί τους (από τις περιγραφές του στην Τορά), μια ομάδα (Εβραίων λογίων) από αυτούς στους οποίους είχε δοθεί το Βιβλίο (η γνώση για την Τορά, εναντιώθηκαν στον Μωχάμμαντ ότι δεν αναφέρεται μέσα στην Τορά, αλλά όταν είδαν ότι όντος η Τορά συμφωνεί με το Κορ’αν στις περιγραφές του), πέταξαν το Βιβλίο του Αλλάχ (την Τορά) πίσω από τις πλάτες τους σαν να μην ήξεραν (τι περιείχε από τις περιγραφές του Μωχάμμαντ).
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
तथा जब उनके पास अल्लाह की ओर से एक रसूल उसकी पुष्टि करने वाला आया,[49] जो उनके पास है, तो उन लोगों में से एक समूह ने, जिन्हें पुस्तक दी गई थी, अल्लाह की पुस्तक को अपनी पीठों के पीछे ऐसे फेंक दिया, जैसे वे नहीं जानते।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E quando arrivò loro un Messaggero da parte di Allāh a conferma di ciò che già avevano, alcuni di quelli che hanno avuto il Libro si gettarono alle spalle il Libro di Allāh, come se non sapessero.
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
101. Ir kai pas juos atėjo Pasiuntinys nuo Allaho (t. y. Muchammedas ﷺ ), patvirtinantis tai, kas buvo pas juos, dalis tų, kuriems buvo suteiktas Raštas, numetė Allaho Knygą sau už nugarų lyg jie būtų nežinoję!
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 когда к ним пришёл посланник от Аллаха, подтверждающий то, что у них, часть тех, кому было даровано Писание, отбросила Писание Аллаха за свои спины, словно они не знают.
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 када им је од Аллаха Посланик дошао, потврђујући да је истинито оно што већ имају, део оних којима је Књига дата Аллахову Књигу одбацују, као да не знају.
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 alipowajia Mtume kutoka kwa Mwenyezi Mungu, mwenye kuthibitisha yale waliyo nayo, kundi moja miongoni mwa wale waliopewa Kitabu lilitupa Kitabu cha Mwenyezi Mungu hicho nyuma ya migongo yao kama kwamba hawajui.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
När ett sändebud från Gud väl kom till dem och bekräftade det som redan finns hos dem, kastade en grupp av de som fått [ta del av den tidigare] skriften Guds skrift bakom ryggen, som om de ingenting visste.
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
Onlara ne zaman ellerinde bulunanı (Tevrat'ı) tasdik eden bir rasûl gelse kendilerine kitap verilenlerden bir grup, sanki Allah’ın kitabını bilmiyorlarmış gibi arkalarına attılar.
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
جب کبھی ان کے پاس اللہ کا کوئی رسول ان کی کتاب کی تصدیق کرنے واﻻ آیا، ان اہل کتاب کے ایک فرقہ نے اللہ کی کتاب کو اس طرح پیٹھ پیچھے ڈال دیا، گویا جانتے ہی نہ تھے۔[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 31635ʾawakullamā ʿāhadū ʿahdan nabaḏahu farīqun minhum bal ʾakṯaruhum lā yuʾminūna
Talal Itani2012 Is it not that whenever they make a covenant, some of them toss it aside? In fact, most of them do not believe.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Is it ever so that when they make a covenant a party of them set it aside? The truth is, most of them believe not
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Or every time they make a covenant, will a part of them repudiate it? Nay, most of them do not believe
John Medows Rodwell1861 Oft as they have formed an engagement with thee, will some of them set it aside? But most of them believe not
George Sale1734 Whenever they make a covenant, will some of them reject it? Yea the greater part of them do not believe
Talal Itani2012 And they followed what the devils taught during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but it was the devils who disbelieved. They taught the people witchcraft and what was revealed in Babylon to the two angels Harut and Marut. They did not teach anybody until they had said, "We are a test, so do not lose faith." But they learned from them the means to cause separation between man and his wife. But they cannot harm anyone except with God's permission. And they learned what would harm them and not benefit them. Yet they knew that whoever deals in it will have no share in the Hereafter. Miserable is what they sold their souls for, if they only knew.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And follow that which the devils falsely related against the kingdom of Solomon. Solomon disbelieved not; but the devils disbelieved, teaching mankind magic and that which was revealed to the two angels in Babel, Harut and Marut. Nor did they (the two angels) teach it to anyone till they had said: We are only a temptation, therefore disbelieve not (in the guidance of Allah). And from these two (angles) people learn that by which they cause division between man and wife; but they injure thereby no-one save by Allah's leave. And they learn that which harmeth them and profiteth them not. And surely they do know that he who trafficketh therein will have no (happy) portion in the Hereafter; and surely evil is the price for which they sell their souls, if they but knew
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And they follow that which the devils recited against Solomons kingdom;- it was not Solomon who misbelieved, but the devils who misbelieved, teaching men sorcery,- and what has been revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut; yet these taught no one until they said, 'We are but a temptation, so do not misbelieve.' Men learn from them only that by which they may part man and wife; but they can harm no one therewith, unless with the permission of God, and they learn what hurts them and profits them not. And yet they knew that he who purchased it would have no portion in the future; but sad is the price at which they have sold their souls, had they but known
John Medows Rodwell1861 And they followed what the Satans read in the reign of Solomon: not that Solomon was unbelieving, but the Satans were unbelieving. Sorcery did they teach to men, and what had been revealed to the two angels, Harut and Marut, at Babel. Yet no man did these two teach until they had said, "We are only a temptation. Be not then an unbeliever." From these two did men learn how to cause division between man and wife: but unless by leave of God, no man did they harm thereby. They learned, indeed, what would harm and not profit them; and yet they knew that he who bought that art should have no part in the life to come! And vile the price for which they have sold themselves, - if they had but known it
George Sale1734 And they followed the device which the devils devised against the kingdom of Solomon; and Solomon was not an unbeliever; but the devils believed not, they taught men sorcery, and that which was sent down to the two angels at Babel, Harut and Marut: Yet those two taught no man until they had said, verily we are a temptation, therefore be not an unbeliever. So men learned from those two a charm by which they might cause division between a man and his wife; but they hurt none thereby, unless by God's permission; and they learned that which would hurt them, and not profit them; and yet they knew that he who bought that art should have no part in the life to come, and woful is the price for which they have sold their souls, if they knew it
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 —
0.54 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
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.67
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.62
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.61
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.60
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.56
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.54
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.53
Talal Itani · George Sale0.51
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.48
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.32
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.
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.