تَأْتِيَهُمْ

What prevented people from accepting faith, when guidance has come to them, and from seeking their Lord’s forgiveness? Unless they are waiting for the precedent of the ancients to befall them, or to have the punishment come upon them face to face

And naught hindereth mankind from believing when the guidance cometh unto them, and from asking forgiveness of their Lord unless (it be that they wish) that the judgment of the men of old should come upon them or (that) they should be confronted with the Doom

And what, now that guidance is come to them, letteth men from believing and from asking forgiveness of their Lord - unless they wait till that the doom of the ancients overtake them, or the chastisement come upon them in the sight of the universe

Naught prevented men from believing when the guidance came to them, or from asking pardon of their Lord, except the coming on them of the course of those of yore, or the coming of the torment before their eyes

and not he prevented the people that they trust in when he came them the guidance and they seek covering their Sustainer except that he comes to them practice of the firsts or he comes to them the punishment face to face

Generated from a table of word-by-word decisions, not written as prose. Arabic word order is preserved, so it reads stiffly and is not a substitute for a translation written by a person. Every verse is rendered, but the whole remains under review: words marked as judgement rest on weaker evidence than the rest and are flagged in place. No tafsir, hadith or existing translation was consulted.