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

19 Whereat he smiled, amused at its words,
and he said, ‘My Lord!
Inspire me to give thanks for Your blessing
with which You have blessed me and my parents,
and that I may do righteous deeds
which may please You,
and admit me, by Your mercy,
among Your righteous servants.’
20 [One day] he reviewed the birds,
and said, ‘Why do I not see the hoopoe?
Or is he absent?’
21 ‘I will surely punish him with a severe punishment,
or I will surely behead him,
unless he brings a clear-cut excuse.’
22 He did not stay for long [before he turned up]
and said, ‘I have alighted on something
which you have not alighted on,
and I have brought you from Sheba a definite report.
23 I found a woman ruling over them,
and she has been given everything,
and she has a great throne.
24 I found her and her people prostrating to the sun
instead of Allah,
and Satan has made their deeds seem decorous to them
— thus he has barred them from the way [of Allah],
so they are not guided —
25 so that they do not prostrate themselves to Allah,
who brings out the hidden in the heavens
and the earth,
and He knows whatever you hide