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
But those who were given knowledge said, "Woe to you! The reward of God is better for those who believe and do righteousdeeds." Yet none attains it except the steadfast.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
But those who had been given knowledge said: Woe unto you! The reward of Allah for him who believeth and doeth right is better, and only the steadfast will obtain it
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
But those who had been given knowledge said, 'Woe to you! the reward of God is better for him who believes and does right; but none shall meet with it except the patient
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
But they to whom knowledge had been given said, "Woe to you! the reward of God is better for him who believeth and worketh righteousness, and none shall win it but those who have patientlyendured
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
But those on whom knowledge had been bestowed, answered, alas for you! The reward of God in the nextlife, will be better unto him who shall believe and do good works: But none shall attain the same, except those who persevere with constancy
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
Ndërkaq, ata që u është dhënë dituria, thanë: "Të mjerët ju! Shpërblimi i Allahut është më i mirë për atë që beson dhe bën vepra të mira. Këtë mund ta arrijnë vetëm të durueshmit."
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 যারা জ্ঞান প্রাপ্ত হয়েছিলো, তারা বললো: ‘ধিক তোমাদেরকে! যারা ঈমান আনে ও সৎকাজ করে তাদের জন্য আল্লাহর প্রতিদানই উত্তম। আর ধৈর্যশীল ছাড়া তা কেউ পাবে 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
“Teško vama”, govorili su učeni, “onom koji vjeruje i čini dobra djela bolja je Allahova nagrada, a bit će samo strpljivima pružena!”
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
“Teško vama,” govorili su učeni, “onom koji vjeruje i čini dobra djela bolja je Allahova nagrada, a bit će samo strpljivima pružena!”
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
Okkaaɓe ganndal ɓen kan mbi'i: "Ee bone mon! Ko mbarjaari Alla ndin ɓuri moƴƴannde on gooŋɗinɗo o golli ko moƴƴi". Kono hawrataa e ɗuum, si wonaa muññiiɓe ɓen.
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 თქვეს იმათ, რომელთაც ებოძათ ცოდნა [ცოდნა ალლაჰის შესახებ და მისი შარიათის შესახებ]: «ვაი თქვენ, ალლაჰის ჯილდო უმჯობესია იმისთვის, ვინც ირწმუნა და სიკეთე აკეთა. და ეს [დარიგება] მხოლოდ მოთმინების მქონეთ მიეცემათ».
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
Aber diejenigen, denen das Wissen gegeben worden war, sagten: „Wehe euch! Die Belohnung Allahs ist besser für jemanden, der glaubt und rechtschaffen handelt.“ Aber das wird nur den Geduldigen gestattet.
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
Εκείνοι όμως στους οποίους δόθηκε γνώση είπαν: «Αλίμονο σε σας! Η ανταμοιβή του Αλλάχ είναι καλύτερη για όποιον πιστεύει και κάνει ενάρετες πράξεις. Και δε θα τη λάβουν παρά μόνο οι υπομονετικοί (που υπακούν τον Αλλάχ).»
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 उन लोगों ने कहा, जिनको ज्ञान दिया गया था : हाय तुम पर! अल्लाह का बदला उस व्यक्ति के लिए कहीं उत्तम है, जो ईमान लाया तथा उसने अच्छा कर्म किया। और इसका सामर्थ्य केवल उन्हीं को दिया जाता है जो सब्र करने वाले हैं।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E dissero quelli che ebbero la sapienza: «Guai a voi! La misericordia ottenuta da Allāh è molto migliore per chi ha creduto e ha fatto il bene, ma non la otterranno se non i pazienti.”
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
80. Tačiau tie, kuriems buvo suteiktos (religijos) žinios sakė: „Vargas jums, Allaho Atlygis (Amžinybėje) yra geresnis tiems, kurie tiki ir daro teisingus gerus darbus, ir to niekas nepasieks, išskyrus tuos, kurie yra As-Sabirun (kantrūs tiesos sekime).
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
Isaan beekumsa kennaman ni jedhan: “yaa badii keessan! Nama amanee, gaarii hojjateef mindaa Rabbiitu irra caala. Kanas obsitoota malee eenyunuu hin kennamu.”
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
А те, которым было даровано знание, сказали: «Горе вам! Награда Аллаха лучше для того, кто уверовал и совершал праведное. Но не будет даровано это никому, кроме терпеливых».
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
“Тешко вама”, говорили су учени, "онима који верују и раде добра дела боља је Аллахова награда, а она ће само стрпљивима да буде пружена.“
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 wakasema wale waliopewa elimu, "Ole wenu! Malipo ya Mwenyezi Mungu ni bora kwa mwenye kuamini na akatenda mema. Wala hawatapewa hayo isipokuwa wenye subira."
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Men de som getts kunskap sa: ”Ta er i akt! För de som tror och handlar rättfärdigt är Guds belöning större; men endast de uthålliga kan uppnå den.”
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
Kendilerine ilim verilenler ise: "Yazıklar olsun size! İman eden ve salih amel işleyenler için Allah’ın sevabı çok daha hayırlıdır. Ona da ancak sabredenler kavuşur." demişlerdi.
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
ذی علم لوگ انہیں سمجھانے لگے کہ افسوس! بہتر چیز تو وه ہے جو بطور ﺛواب انہیں ملے گی جو اللہ پر ایمان ﻻئیں اور نیک عمل کریں[1] یہ بات انہی کے[2] دل میں ڈالی جاتی ہے جو صبر وسہارا والے ہوں.
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)qaala innamaa ooteetuhu 'alaa 'ilmin 'indee awalam ya'lam anna llaaha qad ahlaka min qablihi mina l-qurooni man huwa ashaddu minhu quwwatan wa'aktharu jam'an walaa yus'alu 'an dhunoobihimu l-mujrimoon
DIN 31635qāla ʾinnamā ʾūtītuhu ʿalā ʿilmin ʿindī ʾawalam yaʿlam ʾanna llāha qad ʾahlaka min qablihi mina l-qurūni man huwa ʾašaddu minhu quwwatan waʾakṯaru ǧamʿan walā yusʾalu ʿan ḏunūbihimu l-muǧrimūna
Talal Itani2012 He said, "I was given all this on account of knowledge I possess." Did he not know that God destroyed many generations before him, who were stronger than he, and possessed greater riches? But the guilty will not be asked about their sins.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 He said: I have been given it only on account of knowledge I possess. Knew he not that Allah had destroyed already of the generations before him men who were mightier than him in strength and greater in respect of following? The guilty are not questioned of their sins
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Said he, 'I have only been given it for knowledge which I have!' did he not know that God had destroyed before him many generations of those who were stronger than he, and had amassed more? But the sinners need not to be asked concerning their crimes
John Medows Rodwell1861 He said, "It hath been given me only on account of the knowledge that is in me." Did he not know that God had destroyed before him generations that were mightier than he in strength and had amassed more abundant wealth? But the wicked shall not be asked of their crimes
George Sale1734 He answered, I have received these riches, only because of the knowledge which is with me. Did he not know that God had already destroyed, before him, several generations, who were mightier than he in strength, and had amassed more abundance of riches? And the wicked shall not be asked to discover their crimes
Talal Itani2012 And he went out before his people in his splendor. Those who desired the worldly life said, "If only we possessed the likes of what Quaroon was given. He is indeed very fortunate."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Then went he forth before his people in his pomp. Those who were desirous of the life of the world said: Ah, would that we had the like of what hath been given unto Korah! Lo! he is lord of rare good fortune
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And he went out amongst the people in his ornaments; those who desired the life of this world said, '0 would that we had the like of what Korah has been given! verily, he is endowed with mighty fortune
John Medows Rodwell1861 And Korah went forth to his people in his pomp. Those who were greedy for this present life said, "Oh that we had the like of that which hath been bestowed on Korah! Truly he is possessed of great good fortune
George Sale1734 And Karun went forth unto his people, in his pomp. And they who loved this present life, said, oh that we had the like wealth, as hath been given unto Karun! Verily he is master of a great fortune
Easy-read (simplified)fakhasafnaa bihi wabidaarihi l-'arda famaa kaana lahu min fi'atin yansuroonahu min dooni llaahi wamaa kaana mina l-muntasireen
DIN 31635faḫasafnā bihi wabidārihi l-ʾarḍa famā kāna lahu min fiʾatin yanṣurūnahu min dūni llāhi wamā kāna mina l-muntaṣirīna
Talal Itani2012 So We caused the earth to cave in on him and his mansion. He had no company to save him from God, and he could not defend himself.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 So We caused the earth to swallow him and his dwelling-place. Then he had no host to help him against Allah, nor was he of those who can save themselves
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And we clave the earth with him and with his house; and he had no troop to help him against God, nor was he of those who were helped
John Medows Rodwell1861 And we clave the earth for him and for his palace, and he had no forces, in the place of God, to help him, nor was he among those who are succoured
George Sale1734 And We caused the ground to cleave in sunder, and to swallow up him and his palace: And he had no forces to defend him, besides God; neither was he rescued from punishment
Easy-read (simplified)wa'asbaha lladheena tamannaw makaanahu bil-'amsi yaqooloona wayka'anna llaaha yabsutu r-rizqa liman yashaa'u min 'ibaadihi wayaqdiru lawlaa an manna llaahu 'alaynaa lakhasafa binaa wayka'annahu laa yuflihu l-kaafiroon
DIN 31635waʾaṣbaḥa llaḏīna tamannaw makānahu bil-ʾamsi yaqūlūna waykaʾanna llāha yabsuṭu r-rizqa liman yašāʾu min ʿibādihi wayaqdiru lawlā ʾan manna llāhu ʿalaynā laḫasafa binā waykaʾannahu lā yufliḥu l-kāfirūna
Talal Itani2012 Those who had wished they were in his position the day before were saying, "Indeed, it is God who spreads the bounty to whomever He wills of His servants, and restricts it. Had God not been gracious to us, He would have caved in on us. No wonder the ungrateful never prosper."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And morning found those who had coveted his place but yesterday crying: Ah, welladay! Allah enlargeth the provision for whom He will of His slaves and straiteneth it (for whom He will). If Allah had not been gracious unto us He would have caused it to swallow us (also). Ah, welladay! the disbelievers never prosper
Edward Henry Palmer1880 And on the morrow those who had yearned for his place the day before said, 'Ah, ah! God extends provision to whom He pleases of His servants, or He doles it out; had not God been gracious to us, the earth would have cleft open with us! Ah, ah! the unbelievers shall not prosper
John Medows Rodwell1861 And in the morning those who the day before had coveted his lot said, "Aha! God enlargeth supplies to whom he pleaseth of his servants, or is sparing. Had not God been gracious to us, He had caused it to cleave for us. Aha! the ungrateful can never prosper
George Sale1734 And the next morning, those who had coveted his condition the day before, said, aha! Verily God bestoweth abundant provision on such of his servants as He pleaseth; and He is sparing unto whom He pleaseth. Unless God had been gracious unto us, certainly the earth had swallowed us up also. Aha! The unbelievers shall not prosper
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 —
0.57 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 · George Sale0.68
Talal Itani · George Sale0.68
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.65
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.61
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.56
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.54
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.51
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.51
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.50
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.45
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.