لَوْ كَانَ عَرَضًا قَرِيبًا وَسَفَرًا قَاصِدًا لَّٱتَّبَعُوكَ وَلَـٰكِنۢ بَعُدَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلشُّقَّةُ ۚ وَسَيَحْلِفُونَ بِٱللَّهِ لَوِ ٱسْتَطَعْنَا لَخَرَجْنَا مَعَكُمْ يُهْلِكُونَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَٱللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ إِنَّهُمْ لَكَـٰذِبُونَ
Law kaana 'aradan qareebanw wa safaran qaasidal lattaba'ooka wa laakim ba'udat 'alaihimush shuqqah; wa sayahlifoona billaahi lawis tata'naa lakharajnaa ma'akum; yuhlikoona anfusahum wal laahu ya'lamu innahum lakaa ziboon
Jeśliby zysk był bliski, a droga umiarkowana, to oni z pewnością poszliby za tobą. Lecz daleka dla nich była odległość. Oni będą przysięgać na Boga: "Gdybyśmy mogli, wyruszylibyśmy z wami!" Oni gubią siebie samych. A Bóg wie doskonale, że oni są kłamcami.
Had it been a quick gain and an easy journey, they would have followed you, but the distance was too much for them. They will swear by God, "If we could have, we would have set out with you" — destroying themselves, and God knows they are liars.
ʿAraḍ is the Qur'an's word for a passing gain, something that presents itself and is gone; shuqqa, set against it, comes from a root for splitting and names effort that tears at a person. Placing the two side by side exposes the calculation being made. Arabic then makes the ruin reflexive in yuhlikūna anfusahum, where the ones swearing are also the ones destroyed, so the false oath is itself the damage.