فَقالَ أَنا رَبُّكُمُ الأَعلىٰ

And said, "I am your most exalted lord."

فَأَخَذَهُ اللَّهُ نَكالَ الآخِرَةِ وَالأولىٰ

So Allah seized him in exemplary punishment for the last and the first [transgression].

إِنَّ في ذٰلِكَ لَعِبرَةً لِمَن يَخشىٰ

Indeed in that is a warning for whoever would fear [Allah].

أَأَنتُم أَشَدُّ خَلقًا أَمِ السَّماءُ ۚ بَناها

Are you a more difficult creation or is the heaven? Allah constructed it.

رَفَعَ سَمكَها فَسَوّاها

He raised its ceiling and proportioned it.

وَالأَرضَ بَعدَ ذٰلِكَ دَحاها

And after that He spread the earth.

أَخرَجَ مِنها ماءَها وَمَرعاها

He extracted from it its water and its pasture,

وَالجِبالَ أَرساها

And the mountains He set firmly

مَتاعًا لَكُم وَلِأَنعامِكُم

As provision for you and your grazing livestock.

فَإِذا جاءَتِ الطّامَّةُ الكُبرىٰ

But when there comes the greatest Overwhelming Calamity -