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 when a group of them said, "Why do you counsel a people whom God will annihilate, or punish with a severe punishment?" They said, "As an excuse to your Lord, and so that they may becomerighteous."
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And when a community among them said: Why preach ye to a folk whom Allah is about to destroy or punish with an awfuldoom, they said: In order to be free from guilt before your Lord, and that haply they may ward off (evil)
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
And when a nation from amongst them said, 'Why do ye warn a people whom God would destroy, or punish with severe torment?' they said, 'As an excuse to your Lord, that haply they may fear
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And when some of them said, why warn ye those whom God would destroy or chastise with terriblechastisement? they said, For our own excuse with your Lord; and that they may fear Him
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And when a party among them said to another party, 'Why do you admonish a people whom God is going to destroy or punish with a severe punishment?' They said, 'In order to be absolved from blame before your Lord and that they may turn to righteousness
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
Kur një grup prej tyre thanë: "Përse i këshilloni njerëzit që Allahu do t'i shkatërrojë ose do t'i dënojë ashpër?" Ata thanë: "Për t'u shfajësuar para Zotit tuaj dhe që t'i frikësohen Allahut."
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 স্মরণ করো, যখন তাদের একদল বলেছিল: ‘তোমরা কেন উপদেশ দিচ্ছ এমন সম্প্রদায়কে, যাদেরকে আল্লাহ ধ্বংস করবেন কিংবা কঠিন শাস্তি দিবেন’? তারা বললো: ‘তোমাদের রবের নিকট ওযর পেশ করার জন্যে এবং যাতে তারা সাবধান হয়।’
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 kad neki od njih rekoše: "Zašto opominjete narod koji će Allah uništiti ili ga teškim mukama namučiti?", oni odgovoriše: "Da bismo se pred Gospodarom vašim opravdali i da bi se oni toga klonili."
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 kad neki od njih rekoše: "Zašto opominjete narod koji će Allah uništiti ili ga teškim mukama namučiti?" oni odgovoriše: "Da bismo se pred Gospodarom vašim opravdali i da bi se oni toga klonili."
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
Tuma nde dentaal jeyaaɗo e maɓɓe wi'noo : "Ko holɗum mbaajoantoɗon yimɓe, Allaahu ko kalkoowo ɓe maa O lepta ɓe lepte sattuɗe?" ɓe mbi'i : "Ko [ittugol] ngantu faade ka Joomi mo'on ; e belejo'o, kamɓe ɓe ndentoto".
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 აი თქვა მათგან ერთმა ჯგუფმა (სხვა ჯგუფს): «რატომ აფრთხილებთ ხალხს (შაბათის დამრღვევებს), რომელთაც ალლაჰი გაანადგურებს ან მძიმე სასჯელს დაატეხს?» თქვეს: «რათა ჩვენი უფლის წინაშე გამართლება გვქონდეს, და იქნებ ისინი ღვთისმოშიშნი გახდნენ (სასჯელის შიშით)!»
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 eine Gemeinschaft von ihnen sagte: „Warum ermahnt ihr Leute, die Allah vernichten oder mit strenger Strafe bestrafen wird?“, sagten sie: „Als eine Entschuldigung bei eurem Herrn und auf dass sie (Allah) fürchten mögen.“
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 (ανάφερε, ω, Μωχάμμαντ) όταν μια ομάδα απ' αυτούς (τα παιδιά του Ισραήλ) είπε (σε μία άλλη ομάδα που νουθέτησε εκείνους που ψάρευαν το Σάββατο να σταματήσουν εκείνη την απαγορευμένη πράξη): «Γιατί νουθετείτε ανθρώπους που ο Αλλάχ θα τους καταστρέψει ή θα τους τιμωρήσει με ένα οδυνηρό μαρτύριο;» Είπαν (εκείνοι που νουθετούν): «Για να δικαιολογηθούμε ενώπιον του Κυρίου σας (ότι τηρήσαμε την εντολή Του το να διατάζουμε το καλό και να απαγορεύουμε το κακό), και ίσως (εκείνοι που ψαρεύουν) να φυλαχθούν από την τιμωρία του Αλλάχ (τηρώντας τις εντολές Του και απέχοντας από τις απαγορεύσεις Του).»
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 उनमें से एक समूह ने कहा कि तुम ऐसे लोगों को क्यों समझा रहे हो, जिन्हें अल्लाह (उनकी अवज्ञा के कारण) विनष्ट करने वाला है, या उन्हें बहुत सख़्त यातना देने वाला है? उन्होंने कहा : तुम्हारे पालनहार के समक्ष उज़्र करने के लिए और इसलिए कि शायद वे डर जाएँ।[61]
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E un gruppo di loro disse: «E perché voi predicate a un popolo che Allāh vuole distruggere, o punire in modo molto severo?» Dissero: «Ci scusiamo davanti al vostro Dio», e forse saranno devoti.
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
164. Ir kai bendruomenė iš jų tarpo tarė: „Kodėl jūs pamokslaujate žmonėms, kuriuos Allahas ketina sunaikinti ar nubausti žiauria bausme?“ (Pamokslininkai) atsakė: „Tam, kad išsilaisvintume nuo kaltės jausmo prieš jūsų Viešpatį (Allahą) ir galbūt jie pabijos Allaho.“
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 вот одна община из них сказала: «Зачем вы увещеваете народ, который Аллах непременно погубит или подвергнет суровому наказанию?» Они ответили: «Для оправдания пред вашим Господом, и, — быть может, они будут богобоязненны».
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 кад неки од њих рекоше: „Зашто опомињете народ који ће Аллах да уништи или да га на тешке муке стави?“ Они одговорише: „Да бисмо се пред вашим Господаром оправдали и да би се они тога клонили.“
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 kikundi miongoni mwao walisema: Kwa nini mnawawaidhi watu ambao tangu hapo Mwenyezi Mungu atawaangamiza au atawaadhibu adhabu kali? Wakasema: Ili uwe ni udhuru kwa Mola wenu Mlezi, na huenda nao wakamcha Mungu.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
När en grupp av dem sa: ”Varför förmanar ni ett folk som Gud ändå ska förgöra eller utsätta för ett strängt straff?” De svarade: ”För att ha en ursäkt hos er Herre, och i hopp att de ska frukta honom.”
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
Onlardan bir topluluk şöyle diyordu: "Allah’ın helâk edeceği ve şiddetli bir ceza ile cezalandıracağı topluma niye öğüt veriyorsunuz?" Onlar da: "Rabbinize karşı bir mazeret beyan edelim diye bir de belki sakınırlar/takvalı olurlar diye öğüt veriyoruz." dediler.
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 جب کہ ان میں سے ایک جماعت نے یوں کہا کہ تم ایسے لوگوں کو کیوں نصیحت کرتے ہو جن کو اللہ بالکل ہلاک کرنے واﻻ ہے یا ان کو سخت سزا دینے واﻻ ہے؟[1] انہو ں نے جواب دیا کہ تمہارے رب کے روبرو عذر کرنے کے لیے اور اس لیے کہ شاید یہ ڈر جائیں۔
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 31635fabaddala llaḏīna ẓalamū minhum qawlan ġayra llaḏī qīla lahum faʾarsalnā ʿalayhim riǧzan mina s-samāʾi bimā kānū yaẓlimūna
Talal Itani2012 But the wicked among them substituted other words for the words given to them; so We sent down upon them a plague from the sky, because of their wrongdoing.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 But those of them who did wrong changed the word which had been told them for another saying, and We sent down upon them wrath from heaven for their wrongdoing
Edward Henry Palmer1880 But those amongst them who did wrong changed it for another word than which was said to them; and we sent upon them a plague from heaven for that they were unjust
John Medows Rodwell1861 But the ungodly ones among them changed that word into another than that which had been told them: therefore sent we forth wrath out of Heaven upon them for their wrong doings
George Sale1734 But the transgressors among them changed it for a word other than that which was said to them. So We sent upon them a punishment from heaven, because of their wrongdoing
Talal Itani2012 Ask them about the town by the sea, when they violated the Sabbath. When they observed the Sabbath, their fish would come to them abundantly. But when they violated the Sabbath, their fish would not come to them. Thus We tried them because they disobeyed.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Ask them (O Muhammad) of the township that was by the sea, how they did break the Sabbath, how their big fish came unto them visibly upon their Sabbath day and on a day when they did not keep Sabbath came they not unto them. Thus did We try them for that they were evil-livers
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Ask them too about the city which stood by the sea, when they transgressed upon the Sabbath; when their fish came to them on the Sabbath day sailing straight up to them; but on the days when they kept not the Sabbath, they came not to them, thus did we try them for the abominations that they wrought
John Medows Rodwell1861 And ask them about the city that stood by the sea, when its inhabitants broke the Sabbath; when their fish came to them on their Sabbath day appearing openly, but came not to them on the day when they kept no Sabbath. Thus did we make trial of them, for that they were evildoers
George Sale1734 And ask them concerning the town which stood by the sea. When they profaned the Sabbath; when their fish came to them on their Sabbath day appearing on the surface of the water, but on the day when they did not keep the Sabbath, they came not to them. Thus did We try them because they were rebellious
Talal Itani2012 Then, when they neglected what they were reminded of, We saved those who prohibited evil, and We seized those who did wrong with a terrible punishment, because of their sinfulness.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 And when they forgot that whereof they had been reminded, We rescued those who forbade wrong, and visited those who did wrong with dreadful punishment because they were evil-livers
Edward Henry Palmer1880 But when they forgot what they had been reminded of, we saved those who forbade evil, but we overtook those who did wrong with punishment; - evil was the abomination that they did
John Medows Rodwell1861 And when they forgot their warnings, we delivered those who had forbidden evil; and we inflicted a severe chastisement on those who had done wrong, for that they were evil doers
George Sale1734 And when they forgot all that with which they had been admonished, We saved those who forbade evil and We seized the transgressors with a severe punishment because they were rebellious
Talal Itani2012 Then, when they rebelled against the commands to refrain, We said to them, "Be despicable apes."
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 So when they took pride in that which they had been forbidden, We said unto them: Be ye apes despised and loathed
Edward Henry Palmer1880 but when they rebelled against what they were forbidden, we said to them, 'Become ye apes, despised and spurned
John Medows Rodwell1861 But when they proudly persisted in that which was forbidden, we said to them, "Become scouted apes
George Sale1734 And when they insolently rebelled against that which they had been forbidden, We said to them, 'Be ye apes despised
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 —
0.63 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
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.75
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.72
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.69
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.66
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.62
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.61
Talal Itani · George Sale0.59
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.58
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.54
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.54
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.