Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)

angry and indignant,
he said, ‘Evil has been your conduct in my absence!
Would you hasten on the edict of your Lord?’
He threw down the tablets
and seized his brother by the head,
pulling him towards himself.
He said, ‘Son of my mother,
indeed this people thought me to be weak,
and they were about to kill me.
So do not let the enemies gloat over me,
and do not take me with the wrongdoing lot.’
151 He said, ‘My Lord, forgive me and my brother,
and admit us into Your mercy,
for You are the most merciful of the merciful.
152 Indeed those who took up the calf [for worship]
shall be overtaken by their Lord’s wrath
and abasement in the life of the world.’
Thus do We requite the fabricators [of lies].
153 Yet [to] those who commit misdeeds
but repent after that, and believe,
— indeed, after that, your Lord
shall surely be all-forgiving, all-merciful.
154 And when Moses’ indignation abated,
he picked up the tablets
whose inscriptions contained guidance and mercy
for those who are in awe of their Lord.
155 Moses chose seventy men from his people
for Our tryst,
and when the earthquake seized them,
he said, ‘My Lord, had You wished,