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.
Say: O People of the Scripture! Stress not in your religion other than the truth, and follow not the vain desires of folk who erred of old and led many astray, and erred from a plainroad
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
Say, "O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion beyond the truth; and do not follow the opinions of people who went astray before, and misled many, and themselves strayed off the balanced way."
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Say, 'O people of the Book! exceed not the truth in your religion, and follow not the lusts of a people who have erred before, and who lead many astray, and who go away from the level path
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
SAY: O people of the Book! outstep not bounds of truth in your religion; neither follow the desires of those who have already gone astray, and who have caused many to go astray, and have themselves gone astray from the evenness of the way
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Say, O ye who have received the scriptures, exceed not the just bounds in your religion, by speaking beside the truth; neither follow the desires of peole who have heretofore erred, and who have seduced many, and have gone astray from the strait path
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
Thuaj: "O ithtarë të Librit! Mos i tejkaloni kufijtë në fenë tuaj (duke dalë) përtej së vërtetës dhe mos ndiqni dëshirat e një populli që kishte rënë në humbje më parë dhe kishte çuar në humbje (edhe) shumë (të tjerë) e ishin larguar nga rruga e drejtë."
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
বলো: হে আহলে কিতাব! তোমরা সত্যের বিরুদ্ধে গিয়ে তোমাদের ধর্মের ব্যাপারে সীমালঙ্ঘন করো না।(১৭) আর সে সম্প্রদায়ের প্রবৃত্তির অনুসরণ করো না, যারা ইতঃপূর্বে নিজেরাও পথভ্রষ্ট হয়েছে এবং অন্যদেরকেও পথভ্রষ্ট করেছে। আর তারা সরল-সঠিক পথ থেকে বিচ্যুত হয়েছে।
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
Reci: "O vi kojima je data Knjiga, ne zastranjujte u vjerovanju svome, suprotno istini, i ne povodite se za prohtjevima ljudi koji su još davno zalutali, i mnoge u zabludu odveli, i sami s Pravoga puta skrenuli."
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
Reci: "O vi kojima je data Knjiga, ne zastranjujte u vjerovanju svome, suprotno istini, i ne povodite se za prohtjevima ljudi koji su još davno zalutali, i mnoge u zabludu odveli, i sami s Pravoga puta skrenuli."
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
Maaku : "Eehey mon yimɓe defte, wata on ɓurtin e diina mon kan ko woori goonga, wata on njokku beleeɗe yimɓe [ɓe tawta] gooŋɗii ɓe majjii ko adii, ɓe majjini ko ɗuuɗi, ɓe majji laawol potondirngol ngol.
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
თქვი (ო, მოციქულო): «ჰეი, წიგნის ხალხო! ნუ გადადიხართ ზომას თქვენს რწმენაში [ნუ გადააჭარბებთ რწმენის საკითხებში], როცა ჭეშმარიტებაზე არ ხართ. და ნუ გაჰყვებით იმ ადამიანთა სურვილებს, რომლებიც თავად ადრე შეცდნენ, და მრავალი შეაცდინეს, და თავადაც გადაუხვიეს სწორ გზას».
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
Sag: „O Leute der Schrift, übertreibt nicht in eurer Religion (und überschreitet nicht) außer im (Rahmen) der Wahrheit und folgt nicht den Neigungen von Leuten, die schon zuvor irregegangen sind und viele (andere mit ihnen) in die Irre geführt haben und vom rechten Weg abgeirrt 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
Πες (ω, Μωχάμμαντ): «Ω, λαέ του Βιβλίου (Χριστιανοί)! Mην υπερβάλλετε στη θρησκεία σας πέρα από την Αλήθεια, ούτε να ακολουθείτε τους μάταιους πόθους ενός λαού (των προγόνων σας και των Εβραίων) που παραπλανήθηκε από πριν και παραπλάνησε πολλούς ανθρώπους και παραστράτησε από τον ίσιο δρόμο.»
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
(ऐ नबी!) कह दो : ऐ अह्ले किताब! अपने धर्म में नाहक़ अतिशयोक्ति न करो[48] और उन लोगों की इच्छाओं के पीछे न चलो, जो इससे पहले पथभ्रष्ट[49] हुए और बहुतों को पथभ्रष्ट किया और सीधे मार्ग से भटक गए।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
Di’: «O gente del Libro, non esagerate mai nel fervore religioso tranne che nella verità, e non seguite i capricci di alcuni uomini che si sono perduti in precedenza e che hanno fatto perdere molti altri, e hanno perso la retta via!”
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
77. Sakyk (Muchammedai ﷺ): „Rašto žmonės (judėjai ir krikščionys)! Neperženkite ribų savo tikėjime (tikėdami kažkuo) daugiau nei yra tiesa, ir nesekite tuščiais norais žmonių, kurie paklydo iki jūsų ir paklaidino daugybę nuo Tiesaus Kelio.“
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
Скажи: «О люди Писания! Не проявляйте чрезмерности в своей религии вопреки истине, и не следуйте прихотям людей, которые уже заблудились прежде, ввели в заблуждение многих и сбились с правильного пути».
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
Реци: „О ви којима је дата Књига, не застрањујте у своме веровању, супротно истини, и не поводите се за прохтевима људи који су још давно залутали, и многе су у заблуду одвели, и сами су скренули са правог пута.“
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
Sema: Enyi Watu wa Kitabu! Msipite kiasi katika dini yenu bila ya haki. Wala msifuate matamanio ya kaumu waliokwishapotea tangu zamani, na wakawapoteza wengi, na wenyewe wakapotea njia iliyo sawa.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Säg: ”Skriftens folk! Överskrid inte sanningen i er religion, och följ inte de onda begären hos ett folk som tidigare gått vilse; som har vilselett många och som har avvikit från den raka vägen.”
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
De ki: Ey Ehl-i Kitap! Dininizde haksız olarak aşırı gitmeyin. Kendileri önceden sapmış, çoklarını da saptırmış ve doğru yoldan ayrılmış olan bir topluluğun arzularına uymayın.
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
کہہ دیجیئے اے اہل کتاب! اپنے دین میں ناحق غلو اور زیادتی نہ کرو[1] اور ان لوگوں کی نفسانی خواہشوں کی پیروی نہ کرو جو پہلے سے بہک چکے ہیں اور بہتوں کو بہکا بھی چکے[2] ہیں اور سیدھی راه سے ہٹ گئے ہیں۔
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 31635mā l-masīḥu bnu maryama ʾillā rasūlun qad ḫalat min qablihi r-rusulu waʾummuhu ṣiddīqatun kānā yaʾkulāni ṭ-ṭaʿāma nẓur kayfa nubayyinu lahumu l-ʾāyāti ṯumma nẓur ʾannā yuʾfakūna
Talal Itani2012 The Messiah son of Mary was only a messenger, before whom other Messengers had passed away, and his mother was a woman of truth. They both used to eat food. Note how We make clear the revelations to them; then note how deluded they are.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 The Messiah, son of Mary, was no other than a messenger, messengers (the like of whom) had passed away before him. And his mother was a saintly woman. And they both used to eat (earthly) food. See how We make the revelations clear for them, and see how they are turned away
Edward Henry Palmer1880 The Messiah the son of Mary is only a prophet: prophets before him have passed away; and his mother was a confessor; they used both to eat food. - See how we explain to them the signs, yet see how they turn aside
John Medows Rodwell1861 The Messiah, Son of Mary, is but an Apostle; other Apostles have flourished before him; and his mother was a just person: they both ate food. Behold! how we make clear to them the signs! then behold how they turn aside
George Sale1734 Christ, the son of Mary, is no more than an apostle; other apostles have preceded him; and his mother was a woman of veracity: They both eat food. Behold, how we declare unto them the signs of God's unity; and then behold, how they turn aside from the truth
Easy-read (simplified)qul ata'budoona min dooni llaahi maa laa yamliku lakum darran walaa naf'an wallaahu huwa s-samee'u l-'aleem
DIN 31635qul ʾataʿbudūna min dūni llāhi mā lā yamliku lakum ḍarran walā nafʿan wallāhu huwa s-samīʿu l-ʿalīmu
The translators word this verse differently
Talal Itani2012 Say, "Do you worship, besides God, what has no power to harm or benefit you?" But God: He is the Hearer, the Knower.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Say: Serve ye in place of Allah that which possesseth for you neither hurt nor use? Allah it is Who is the Hearer, the Knower
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Say, 'Will ye serve, other than God, what can neither hurt you nor profit you?' but God, He both hears and knows
John Medows Rodwell1861 SAY: Will ye worship, beside God, that which can neither hurt nor help? But God! He only Heareth, Knoweth
George Sale1734 Say unto them, will ye worship, besides God, that which can cause you neither harm nor profit? God is He who heareth and seeth
DIN 31635luʿina llaḏīna kafarū min banī ʾisrāʾīla ʿalā lisāni dāwūda waʿīsā bni maryama ḏālika bimā ʿaṣaw wakānū yaʿtadūna
Talal Itani2012 Cursed were those who disbelieved from among the Children of Israel by the tongue of David and Jesus son of Mary. That is because they rebelled and used to transgress.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Those of the Children of Israel who went astray were cursed by the tongue of David, and of Jesus, son of Mary. That was because they rebelled and used to transgress
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Those of the children of Israel who disbelieved were cursed by the tongue of David and Jesus the son of Mary; that is because they rebelled and did transgress
John Medows Rodwell1861 Those among the children of Israel who believed not were cursed by the tongue of David, and of Jesus, Son of Mary. This, because they were rebellious, and became transgressors
George Sale1734 Those among the children of Israel who believed not, were cursed by the tongue of David, and of Jesus the son of Mary. This befell them because they were rebellious and transgressed
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 —
0.61 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 · George Sale0.71
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.63
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.63
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.61
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.60
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.60
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.59
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.57
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.56
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.56
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.