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
And how many a city did We destroy for turningunappreciative of its livelihood? Here are their homes, uninhabited after them, except for a few. And We became the Inheritors.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And how many a community have We destroyed that was thankless for its means of livelihood! And yonder are their dwellings, which have not been inhabited after them save a little. And We, even We, were the inheritors
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
How many a city have we destroyed that exulted in its means of subsistence? These are their dwellings, never dwelt in after them, except a little; for we were the heirs
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And how many cities have we destroyed that flourished in wanton ease! And these their dwellings have not been inhabited since their time save by a few, and it is we who became their heirs
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
How many cities have We destroyed, whose inhabitantslived in ease and plenty? And these their dwellings are not inhabited after them, unless for a little while; and We were the inheritors of their wealth
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
Sa shumë qytete i kemi shkatërruar, për shkak se u treguan mosmirënjohës në jetesën e tyre! Ja banesat e tyre, të cilat nuk u banuan pas tyre, përveçse pak. Jemi Ne trashëgimtarët.
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 কত জনপদ ধ্বংস করেছি, যারা তাদের সুখ-সমৃদ্ধি নিয়ে ঔদ্ধত্যে মত্ত ছিল! অতঃপর এগুলোই তাদের বাসস্থান, তাদের পরে অল্প কিছু ছাড়া আর বসবাস করা হয়নি। আর আমিই তো (সবকিছুর) চূড়ান্ত উত্তরাধিকারী।
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 koliko smo Mi sela i gradova uništili čiji su stanovnici u životu obijesni bili! Eno domova njihovih, malo ko, poslije njih, navrati u njih, Nama su ostali.
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 koliko smo Mi sela i gradova uništili čiji su stanovnici u životu obijesni bili! Eno domova njihovih, malo tko, poslije njih, navrati u njih, Nama su ostali.
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
Ɗuuɗii ko Min kakli, e yimɓe ca'e, bewrunooɓe nguuree mum, e homo non galleeji maɓɓe ɗin, koɗiraaka ɓaawo maɓɓe, si wonaa seeɗa. Min laatii wonn'de ronooɓe 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 რამდენი სოფელი დავღუპეთ, რომლებიც თავიანთი ცხოვრებით ამაყობდნენ! და აი — მათი საცხოვრებლები, (რომლებშიც) მათ შემდეგ (არავინ) ცხოვრობდა, გარდა მცირერიცხოვანი (ადამიანებისა) [მგზავრებისა]. და ჩვენ ვართ (ყოველივეს) მემკვიდრენი.
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 wie viele Ortschaften haben Wir schon vernichtet, die sich hochmütig ihres Lebensunterhaltes erfreuten! Dies sind nun ihre Wohnstätten, die nach ihnen nicht mehr bewohnt wurden, bis auf wenige. Und Wir sind es, die Erben (all dessen) geworden sind.
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
Πόσες πόλεις καταστρέψαμε που ήταν αχάριστες προς τις εύνοιες που τους παρείχαμε! Να τες οι κατοικίες τους, δεν κατοικήθηκαν μετά απ' αυτούς παρά μόνο λίγες (ή για λίγο -από τους οδοιπόρους κλπ.-). Ήμασταν Εμείς οι Κληρονόμοι [δηλ. δεν έμεινε κανένας από εκείνους. Και ο Αλλάχ είναι ο Ιδιοκτήτης των πάντων].
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 हमने कितनी ही बस्तियों को विनष्ट कर दिया, जो अपनी गुज़र-बसर के संसाधनों पर इतराने लगी थीं। तो ये हैं उनके घर, जो उनके बाद आबाद नहीं किए गए, परंतु बहुत कम। और हम ही हमेशा उत्तराधिकारी बनने वाले हैं।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E quante comunità ingrate dalla vita lussuosa abbiamo distrutto! Ecco le loro case, che non furono abitate, dopo di loro, se non poche. E Noi siamo gli eredi.
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
58. Ir kiek miestų (gyventojų) Mes sunaikinome, kurie buvo nedėkingi už savo pragyvenimo šaltinius (nepakluso Allahui ir Jo Pasiuntiniams, darydami blogus veiksmus ir nusikaltimus). Ir tai yra jų buveinės, kurios nebuvo apgyvendintos po jų, išskyrus keletą. Ir iš tiesų, Mes buvome paveldėtojai.
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 1.0.8
Afaan Oromoo · Oromo
[Warra] gandaa irraas kan jireenya ishee keessatti boontee ishee balleessine meeqaa meeqa? (hedduudha) Isheen sun gandoota isaanii kan isaaniin booda xiqqoo malee keessa hin jiraataminiidha. Nutis dhaaltota taaneerra.
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
Сколько же Мы погубили селений, возгордившихся своим благополучием! И вот — их жилища остались необитаемыми после них, кроме немногих. И воистину, Мы были и пребудем наследниками [всего].
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 колико смо Ми насеља уништили, чији су становници према ономе што им је дато у животу били незахвални! Ето домова њихових, мало ко, после њих, наврати у њих, Нама су остали.
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 miji mingapi iliyojifahirisha katika maisha yao tumeiangamiza! Na hayo maskani yao hayakukaliwa tena baada yao, isipokuwa kwa uchache tu. Na Sisi ndio tumekuwa warithi wao.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Hur många samhällen har vi inte förintat, som levde i välstånd! Där står deras övergivna bostäder, knappt bebodda. Det är vi som förblir [när allt annat försvinner].
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
Biz geçimlerinde şımarmış nice ülkeleri helâk ettik. İşte onlardan sonra –çok kısa bir süre dışında- kimsenin oturmadığı meskenleri. Mirasçı olanlar biz olduk biz.
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 بہت سی وه بستیاں تباه کر دیں جو اپنی عیش و عشرت میں اترانے لگی تھیں، یہ ہیں ان کی رہائش کی جگہیں جو ان کے بعد بہت ہی کم آباد کی گئیں[1] اور ہم ہی ہیں آخر سب کچھ کے وارث.[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.
Easy-read (simplified)innaka laa tahdee man ahbabta walaakinna llaaha yahdee man yashaa'u wahuwa a'lamu bil-muhtadeen
DIN 31635ʾinnaka lā tahdī man ʾaḥbabta walākinna llāha yahdī man yašāʾu wahuwa ʾaʿlamu bil-muhtadīna
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 You cannot guide whom you love, but God guides whom He wills, and He knows best those who are guided.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Lo! thou (O Muhammad) guidest not whom thou lovest, but Allah guideth whom He will. And He is Best Aware of those who walk aright
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Verily, thou canst not guide whom thou dost like, but God guides whom He pleases; for He knows best who are to be guided
John Medows Rodwell1861 Thou truly canst not guide whom thou desirest; but God guideth whom He will; and He best knoweth those who yield to guidance
George Sale1734 Verily thou canst not direct whom thou wilt: But God directeth whom He pleaseth, and He best knoweth those who will submit to be directed
Easy-read (simplified)waqaaloo in nattabi'i l-hudaa ma'aka nutakhattaf min ardinaa awalam numakkin lahum haraman aaminan yujbaa ilayhi thamaraatu kulli shay'in rizqan min ladunnaa walaakinna aktharahum laa ya'lamoon
DIN 31635waqālū ʾin nattabiʿi l-hudā maʿaka nutaḫaṭṭaf min ʾarḍinā ʾawalam numakkin lahum ḥaraman ʾāminan yuǧbā ʾilayhi ṯamarātu kulli šayʾin rizqan min ladunnā walākinna ʾakṯarahum lā yaʿlamūna
Talal Itani2012 And they say, "If we follow the guidance with you, we will be snatched from our land." Did We not establish for them a Safe Sanctuary, to which are brought all kinds of fruits, as provision from Ourselves? But most of them do not know.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And they say: If we were to follow the Guidance with thee we should be torn out of our land. Have We not established for them a sure sanctuary, whereunto the produce of all things is brought (in trade), a provision from Our presence? But most of them know not
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And they say, 'If we follow the guidance we shall be snatched away from the land.' Have we not established for them a safe sanctuary, to which are imported the fruits of everything as a provision from us? but most of them do not know
John Medows Rodwell1861 But they say, "If we follow the way in which thou art guided, we shall be driven from our country." But have we not established for them a sacred secure precinct, to which fruits of every kind, our gift for their support, are gathered together? But most of them have no knowledge
George Sale1734 The Meccans say, if we follow the same direction with thee, we shall be forcibly expelled our land. Have We not established for them a secure asylum; to which fruits of every sort are brought, as a provision of our bounty? But the greater part of them do not understand
Talal Itani2012 Your Lord never destroys cities without first sending a messenger in their midst, reciting to them Our revelations. And We never destroy the cities, unless their people are wrongdoers.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And never did thy Lord destroy the townships, till He had raised up in their mother(-town) a messenger reciting unto them Our revelations. And never did We destroy the townships unless the folk thereof were evil-doers
Edward Henry Palmer1880 But thy Lord would never destroy cities until He sent to the metropolis thereof an apostle, to recite to them our signs; nor would we destroy cities unless their people were unjust
John Medows Rodwell1861 But thy Lord did not destroy the cities till He had sent an apostle to their mother-city to rehearse our signs to its people: nor did we destroy the cities unless its people were unjust
George Sale1734 But thy Lord did not destroy those cities, until He had sent unto their capital an apostle, to rehearse our signs unto them: Neither did We destroy those cities, unless their inhabitants were injurious to their apostle
DIN 31635wamā ʾūtītum min šayʾin famatāʿu l-ḥayāti d-dunyā wazīnatuhā wamā ʿinda llāhi ḫayrun waʾabqā ʾafalā taʿqilūna
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 Whatever thing you are given is but the material of this world, and its glitter. But what is with God is better, and longer lasting. Do you not comprehend?
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And whatsoever ye have been given is a comfort of the life of the world and an ornament thereof; and that which Allah hath is better and more lasting. Have ye then no sense
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Whatever thing ye may be given, it is a provision for this world's life and the adornment thereof; but what is with God is better and more enduring; have ye then no sense
John Medows Rodwell1861 And all that hath been bestowed on you is merely for enjoyment and pomp of this life present: but that which is with God is better and more lasting. Will ye not be wise
George Sale1734 The things which are given you, are the provisions of this present life, and the pomp thereof; but that which is with God, is better and more durable: Will ye not therefore understand
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 —
0.66 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 · John Medows Rodwell0.83
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.73
Talal Itani · George Sale0.70
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.70
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.67
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.65
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.65
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.56
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.54
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.53
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.