Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Qur’ān; Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad (1980)
(36) But Satan caused them both to stumble therein, and thus brought about the loss of their erstwhile state.29 And so We said: “Down with you, [and be henceforth] enemies unto one another; and on earth you shall have your abode and your livelihood for a while!”30
(37) Thereupon Adam received words [of guidance] from his Sustainer, and He accepted his repentance: for, verily, He alone is the Acceptor of Repentance, the Dispenser of Grace. (38) [For although] We did say, “Down with you all from this [state],” there shall, none the less, most certainly come unto you guidance from Me: and those who follow My guidance need have no fear, and neither shall they grieve; (39) but those who are bent on denying the truth and giving the lie to Our messages - they are destined for the fire, and therein shall they abide.
(40) O children of Israel!31 Remember those blessings of Mine with which I graced you, and fulfil your promise unto Me, [whereupon] I shall fulfil My promise unto you; and of Me, of Me stand in awe!
(41) Believe in that which I have [now] bestowed from on high, confirming the truth already in your possession, and be not foremost among those who deny its truth; and do not barter away My messages for a trifling gain;32 and of Me, of Me be conscious!
(42) And do not overlay the truth with falsehood, and do not knowingly suppress the truth;33 (43) and be
Bible (Genesis ii, 9) as “the tree of life” and “the tree of knowledge of good and evil”. For a tentative explanation of this allegory, see note 106 on 20:120.
29 Lit., “brought them out of what they had been in”: i.e., by inducing them to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree.
30 With this sentence, the address changes from the hitherto-observed dual form to the plural: a further indication that the moral of the story relates to the human race as a whole. See also sūrah 7, note 16.
31 This passage connects directly with the preceding passages in that it refers to the continuous guidance vouchsafed to man through divine revelation. The reference to the children of Israel at this point, as in so many other places in the Qurʾān, arises from the fact that their religious beliefs represented an earlier phase of the monotheistic concept which culminates in the revelation of the Qurʾān.
32 A reference to the persistent Jewish belief that they alone among all nations have been graced by divine revelation. The “trifling gain” is their conviction that they are “God’s chosen people” – a claim which the Qurʾān consistently refutes.
33 By “overlaying the truth with falsehood” is meant the corrupting of the Biblical text, of which the Qurʾān frequently accuses the Jews (and which has since been established by objective textual criticism), while the “suppression of the truth” refers to their disregard or deliberately false interpretation of the words of Moses in the Biblical passage, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” (Deuteronomy xviii, 15), and the words attributed to God Himself, “I will raise them up a prophet from among thy brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in his mouth” (Deuteronomy xviii,
