And, indeed, [even] before thy time have apostles been derided - but those who scoffed at them were [in the end] overwhelmed by the very thing which they were wont to deride.*
And thus it is: if We defer their suffering until a time-limit set [by Us],* they are sure to say, "What is preventing it [from coming now]?"* Oh, verily, on the Day when it befalls them there will be nothing to avert it from them; and they shall be overwhelmed by the very thing which they were wont to deride.*
And, indeed, [O Muhammad, even] before thy time have [God's] apostles been derided - but those who scoffed at them were [in the end] overwhelmed by the very thing which they had been wont to deride.*
their arrogant behaviour on earth, and their devising of evil [arguments against God's messages].* Yet [in the end,] such evil scheming will engulf none but its authors: and can they expect anything but [to be made to go] the way of those [sinners] of olden times?* Thus [it is]: no change wilt thou ever find in God's way; yea, no deviation wilt thou ever find in God's way!
and obvious to them will have become the evil that they had wrought [in life]: and thus shall they be overwhelmed by the very truth which they were wont to deride.*
for when their apostles came to them with all evidence of the truth, they arrogantly exulted in whatever knowledge they [already] possessed:* and [so, in the end,] they were overwhelmed by the very thing which they were wont to deride.*
And [on that Day,] the evil of their doings will become obvious to them, and they will be overwhelmed by the very thing which they were wont to deride.*
And yet, We had established them securely in a manner in which We have never established you, [O people of later times;]* and We had endowed them with hearing, and sight, and [knowledgeable] hearts:* but neither their hearing, nor their sight, nor their hearts were of the least avail to them, seeing that they went on rejecting God's messages; and [in the end] they were overwhelmed* by the very thing which they had been wont to deride.