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
Had We willed, We could have elevated him through them; but he clung to the ground, and followed his desires. His metaphor is that of a dog: if you chase it, it pants; and if you leave it alone, it pants. Such is the metaphor of the people who deny Our signs. So tell the tale, so that they may ponder.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And had We willed We could have raised him by their means, but he clung to the earth and followed his own lust. Therefor his likeness is as the likeness of a dog: if thou attackest him he panteth with his tongue out, and if thou leavest him he panteth with his tongue out. Such is the likeness of the people who deny Our revelations. Narrate unto them the history (of the men of old), that haply they may takethought
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
Had we pleased we would have exalted him thereby, but lie crouched upon the earth and followed his lust, and his likeness was as the likeness of a dog, whom if thou shouldst attack he hangs out his tongue, or if thou should leave him, hangs out his tongue too. That is the likeness of the people who say our signs are lies. Tell them then these tales - haply they may reflect
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Had we pleased, we had certainly thereby exalted him; but he crouched to the earth and followed his own lust: his likeness, therefore, is as that of the dog which lolls out his tongue, whether thou chase him away, or leave him alone! Such is the likeness of those who treat our signs as lies. Tell them this tale then, that they may consider
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
And if We pleased, We would have exalted him thereby; but he inclined to the earth and followed his evil desires. His case, therefore, is like the case of a thirsty dog; if thou drive him away, he hangs out his tongue and if thou leave him, he hangs out his tongue. Such is the case of the people who disbelieve in Our Signs. So relate to them this narrative that they may reflect
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
Sikur të dëshironim, do ta ngrinim atë nëpërmjet tyre, por ai u mbërthye pas kësaj bote dhe ndoqi dëshirat e veta. Ai i shëmbëllen qenit: nëse e përzë, ai nxjerr gjuhën, e, nëse e lë, ai sërish nxjerr gjuhën. I tillë është shembulli i njerëzve që përgënjeshtruan ajetet Tona. Rrëfejua tregimet, që të mendojnë.
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 ইচ্ছা করলে উক্ত নিদর্শনাবলীর দ্বারা তাকে অবশ্যই উচ্চ মর্যাদা দিতাম; কিন্তু সে পৃথিবীর প্রতি ঝুঁকে পড়েছে এবং সে তার কুপ্রবৃত্তির অনুসরণ করেছে। সুতরাং তার দৃষ্টান্ত হচ্ছে, কুকুরের মতো । যদি তার ওপর বোঝা চাপিয়ে দাও, তাহলে সে জিহ্বা বের করে হাঁপাবে, আর বোঝা না চাপালেও সে জিহ্বা বের করে হাঁপাবে। এটি হচ্ছে সে সম্প্রদায়ের দৃষ্টান্ত, যারা আমার আয়াতসমূহকে অস্বীকার করেছে। অতএব, তুমি এ ঘটনাগুলো তাদের কাছে বর্ণনা করো, যাতে তারা চিন্তা-ভাবনা করতে পারে।
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 da smo htjeli, mogli smo ga time uzvisiti, ali se on ovom svijetu priklonio i za svojom strašću krenuo. Njegov je slučaj kao slučaj psa: ako ga potjeraš, on isplažena jezika dahće, a ako ga se okaniš – on opet dahće. Takvi su ljudi koji Naše dokaze smatraju lažnim; zato, kazuj događaje da bi oni razmislili.
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 da smo htjeli, mogli smo ga time uzvisiti, ali se on ovom svijetu priklonio i za svojom strašću krenuo. Njegov je slučaj kao slučaj psa: ako ga potjeraš, on isplažena jezika dahće, a ako ga se okaniš – on opet dahće. Takvi su ljudi koji Naše dokaze smatraju lažnim; zato, kazuj događaje da bi oni razmislili.
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
Sinno min muuyuno, min ɓamtirayno mo ɗe, ko woni tun o heddike ka leydi o jokki belaaɗe makko. yeru makko ko sifa rawaandu, si a ronndii ndu ndu lahay, maa si a terti ndu du lahay. Ko ɗuum woni misal yimɓe yedduɓe Aayeeje amen ɗeen. Fillo qissaaji ɗin ; mbelejo'o, ɓe miijitoto.
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 რომ გვენება, ჩვენ ავამაღლებდით მას ამის (ნიშნების) საშუალებით, მაგრამ იგი მიეკრო მიწას[1] და მიჰყვა თავის ვნებებს. და მისი მაგალითი ჰგავს ძაღლს: თუ მიუდგები, ენას გამოყოფს, და თუ დატოვებ (მშვიდად), (მაინც) ენას გამოყოფს. ეს არის მაგალითი იმ ხალხისა, რომლებმაც უარყვეს ჩვენი აიათები. ამიტომ მოუყევი (ო, მოციქულო) ეს ამბავი, — იქნებ ისინი დაფიქრდნენ!
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 wenn Wir gewollt hätten, hätten Wir ihn durch sie (also diese Zeichen) gewiss erhöht. Aber er neigte zur Erde hin und folgte seiner Neigung. So ist sein Gleichnis wie das Gleichnis eines Hundes: Wenn du auf ihn losgehst, hechelt er; oder du lässt ihn (in Ruhe), hechelt er (auch). Dies ist das Gleichnis der Leute, die Unsere Zeichen für Lüge erklärten. So berichte die Geschichte, auf dass sie nachdenken 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
Αν θέλαμε, θα τον υψώναμε μ' αυτά (τα σημάδια), αλλά αυτός προσκολλήθηκε στη γη (και στις απολαύσεις της εγκόσμιας ζωής) και ακολούθησε τις επιθυμίες του. Το παράδειγμά του είναι σαν αυτό ενός σκύλου: αν τον διώχνεις, βγάζει τη γλώσσα του, και αν τον αφήσεις, εξακολουθεί να βγάζει τη γλώσσα του. Αυτό είναι το παράδειγμα εκείνων των ανθρώπων που διαψεύδουν τα σημάδιά Μας (είτε τους καλείς στο Ισλάμ, είτε τους αφήνεις, είναι το ίδιο γι' αυτούς). Γι' αυτό, αφηγήσου τις ιστορίες, μήπως και να τα αναλογιστούν!
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 यदि हम चाहते, तो उन (आयतों) के द्वारा उसका पद ऊँचा कर देते, परंतु वह धरती से चिमट गया और अपनी इच्छा के पीछे लग गया। अतः उसकी दशा उस कुत्ते के समान हो गई, जिसे हाँको, तब भी जीभ निकाले हाँफता रहे और छोड़ दो, तब भी जीभ निकाले हाँफता है। यह उन लोगों की मिसाल है, जिन्होंने हमारी आयतों को झुठलाया। तो आप ये कथाएँ (उन्हें) सुना दें, ताकि वे सोच-विचार करें।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
Ma, se avessimo voluto, lo avremmo elevato con quei Segni, ma si aggrappò alla terra e seguì il suo vizio. E il suo esempio è come l’esempio del cane che ansima se lo attacchi, e se lo ignori ansima comunque: quello è l’esempio del popolo che smentisce i Nostri Segni: recita loro i racconti, perché ricordino.
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
176. Ir jei Mes būtume panorėję, Mes tikrai būtume jį išugdę, tačiau jis įsitvėrė žemės ir sekė savo tuščiu troškimu. Taigi, jo panašumas į šunį: jei jį išvarai – jis iškiša savo liežuvį, o jei palieki jį vieną – jis (vis tiek) iškiša savo liežuvį. Toks panašumas yra žmonių, kurie atmeta Mūsų Ajat (įrodymus, įkalčius, eilutes, pamokas, ženklus, apreiškimus ir t.t.). Taigi, pasakok istorijas, galbūt jie susimąstys.
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
Odoo feenee, isheedhaan (keeyyattoota keenyaan) ol isa fuuna ture, Garuu inni gara dachiitti gadi dide; fedhii lubbuu isaa hordofe, Fakkeenyi isaa akka fakkii sareeti yoo ariite arraba baasee harganu, yoo dhiiftes arraba baasee harganuuti, Kuni fakkeenya ummata keeyyattoota keenya kijibsiisaniiti, seenaalee odeessi akka isaan xiinxalaniif jecha.
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 ведь если бы Мы пожелали, Мы возвысили бы его посредством них, но он приник к земле и последовал своей прихоти. Притча о нём подобна притче о собаке: если прогоняешь её — она высовывает язык, и если оставишь её, она [всё равно] высовывает язык. Таковы люди, которые сочли Наши знамения ложью. Так рассказывай же этот рассказ, — быть может, они поразмыслят.
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 да смо хтели, могли смо тиме да га узвисимо, али се он приклонио овом свету и за својом страшћу кренуо. Његов случај је као случај пса; ако га потераш, он исплаженог језика дахће, а ако га се оканиш – он опет дахће. Такви су људи који Наше речи и доказе сматрају лажним; зато, казуј догађаје да би они размислили.
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 lau kuwa tungelitaka, tungelimwinua kwazo, lakini yeye alizama katika ulimwengu na akafuata matamanio yake. Basi mfano wake ni kama mfano wa mbwa. Ukimhujumu hupumua na kutoa ulimi nje, na ukimwacha, pia hupumua na kutoa ulimi nje. Huo ni mfano wa kaumu ambao walizikadhibisha Ishara zetu. Basi simulia hadithi, huenda wakatafakari.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
Om vi hade velat hade vi upphöjt honom genom dem, men han klamrade sig fast vid det världsliga och följde sina begär. Han är som en hund som flåsar med hängande tunga vare sig du jagar bort den eller låter den vara. Sådan är liknelsen för de som förnekar våra tecken. Berätta dessa berättelser så att de må tänka efter.
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
Dileseydik onu ayetlerimizle yükseltirdik. Fakat o dünyaya saplanıp, kaldı, hevesine uydu. Onun misali, üzerine yürüsen de kendi haline bıraksan da dilini çıkartıp soluyan köpeğe benzer. Ayetlerimizi yalanlayan kavmin misali budur. Kıssayı anlat, belki düşünürler.
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 اگر ہم چاہتے تو اس کو ان آیتوں کی بدولت بلند مرتبہ کر دیتے لیکن وه تو دنیا کی طرف مائل ہوگیا اور اپنی نفسانی خواہش کی پیروی کرنے لگا سو اس کی حالت کتے کی سی ہوگئی کہ اگر تو اس پر حملہ کرے تب بھی ہانپے یا اس کو چھوڑ دے تب بھی ہانپے[1] ، یہی حالت ان لوگوں کی ہے جنہوں نے ہماری آیتوں کو جھٹلایا۔ سو آپ اس حال کو بیان کر دیجئے شاید وه لوگ کچھ سوچیں۔[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.
DIN 31635watlu ʿalayhim nabaʾa llaḏī ʾātaynāhu ʾāyātinā fānsalaḫa minhā faʾatbaʿahu š-šayṭānu fakāna mina l-ġāwīna
Talal Itani2012 And relate to them the story of him to whom We delivered Our signs, but he detached himself from them, so Satan went after him, and he became one of the perverts.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Recite unto them the tale of him to whom We gave Our revelations, but he sloughed them off, so Satan overtook him and he became of those who lead astray
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Read to them the declaration of him to whom we brought our signs, and who stepped away therefrom, and Satan followed him, and he was of those who were beguiled
John Medows Rodwell1861 Recite to them the history of him to whom we vouchsafed our signs, and who departed from them, so that Satan followed him, and he became one of the seduced
George Sale1734 And relate to them the story of him to whom We gave Our Signs, but he stepped away from them; so Satan followed him up and he became one of those who go astray
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 —
0.60 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 · Edward Henry Palmer0.66
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.65
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.64
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.62
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.62
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.60
Talal Itani · George Sale0.60
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.56
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.54
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.51
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.