Popular Translations
Muhammad Asad
Said she: “Verily, whenever kings enter a country they corrupt it, and turn the noblest of its people into the most abject. And this is the way they [always] behave
Arthur John Arberry
She said, 'Kings, when they enter a city, disorder it and make the mighty ones of its inhabitants abased. Even so they too will do
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
She said: "Kings, when they enter a country, despoil it, and make the noblest of its people its meanest thus do they behave
Arabic
قَالَتۡ إِنَّ ٱلۡمُلُوكَ إِذَا دَخَلُوا۟ قَرۡیَةً أَفۡسَدُوهَا وَجَعَلُوۤا۟ أَعِزَّةَ أَهۡلِهَاۤ أَذِلَّةࣰۚ وَكَذَ ٰلِكَ یَفۡعَلُونَ ٣٤
Transliteration (2021)
qālat inna l-mulūka idhā dakhalū qaryatan afsadūhā wajaʿalū aʿizzata ahlihā adhillatan wakadhālika yafʿalūn