۞ And certainly We gave to Dawood excellence from Us: O mountains! sing praises with him, and the birds; and We made the iron pliant to him, 10 [and inspired him thus:] "Do good deeds lavishly, without stint, and give deep thought to their steady flow." And [thus should you all, O believers,] do righteous deeds: for, verily, I see all that you do! 11 And We gave the wind in Sulaiman’s control – its morning journey equal to a month’s course and the evening journey equal to a month’s course; and We sprung a stream of molten copper for him; and from the jinns, who worked before him by the command of his Lord; and those among them who turned away from Our command – We shall make them taste the punishment of the blazing fire. 12 They made for him whatever he desired: palaces and statues, basins like reservoirs, and large cooking vessels fixed in their places. We said, "Give thanks, house of David, for few of My servants are truly grateful." 13 When We decreed Solomon's death, nothing indicated his death to them except a worm from the earth, which was eating away at his cane. When he fell down, the jinn plainly realized that if they had known what was unseen, they would not have had to continue with such humiliating labour. 14 For the people of Sheba there was a sign in their homeland: two gardens, one on the right hand and the other on the left. We said to them: "Eat what your Lord has provided for you, and be grateful. You have a good land and a Lord most forgiving." 15 But they turned away (from Allah), and We sent against them the Flood (released) from the dams, and We converted their two garden (rows) into "gardens" producing bitter fruit, and tamarisks, and some few (stunted) Lote-trees. 16 Thus did We retribute them for their ingratitude. And none do We retribute in this manner except the utterly ungrateful. 17 And We placed between them and the towns which We had blessed, towns easy to be seen, and We made the stages (of journey) between them easy (saying): "Travel in them safely both by night and day." 18 So they said, “Our Lord! Make the stage between our journeys longer” and they wronged themselves – We therefore turned them into fables and scattered them completely with adversity; indeed in this are signs for every greatly enduring, most grateful person. 19 And certainly the Shaitan found true his conjecture concerning them, so they follow him, except a party of the believers. 20 And he has no authority over them, but that We may distinguish him who believes in the hereafter from him who is in doubt concerning it; and your Lord is the Preserver of all things 21