۞ And indeed We gave Dawud the utmost excellence from Us; “O the hills and birds, repent towards Allah along with him”; and We made iron soft for 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 (We made subservient to) Solomon the wind that travelled a month's journey in the morning and a month's journey in the evening. We made a stream of brass flow for him and some of the jinn worked for him by his Lord's command. We would make whichever of them (jinn) who turned away from Our command to suffer a burning torment. 12 They made for him whatever he wanted, arches, statues, bowls as basins, and fixed cauldrons. (We said:) 'Give thanks, House of David and work' Yet only a few of My worshipers are thankful. 13 And when We decreed (Solomon's) death, they had no indication that he was dead until (they saw a termite), a crawler of the earth eating away his staff. And when he fell down, the jinn realized that had they known the unseen, they would not have continued in their humiliating punishment. 14 For Sheba there was indeed a sign. In their dwelling place there were two gardens, on the right and left side. (We said): 'Eat of your Lord's provisions and give thanks to Him, a good land, and a Lord who is the Forgiving' 15 But they turned aside, so We sent upon them a torrent of which the rush could not be withstood, and in place of their two gardens We gave to them two gardens yielding bitter fruit and (growing) tamarisk and a few lote-trees. 16 [By] that We repaid them because they disbelieved. And do We [thus] repay except the ungrateful? 17 We established between them and the town that We had blessed, other towns nearby, and thus made it easier to travel. We told them, "Travel there safely day and night". 18 But they said: "Our Lord! Place longer distances between our journey-stages": but they wronged themselves (therein). At length We made them as a tale (that is told), and We dispersed them all in scattered fragments. Verily in this are Signs for every (soul that is) patiently constant and grateful. 19 And Iblees had already confirmed through them his assumption, so they followed him, except for a party of believers. 20 And he had over them no authority except [it was decreed] that We might make evident who believes in the Hereafter from who is thereof in doubt. And your Lord, over all things, is Guardian. 21