۞ And assuredly We gave David grace from Us, (saying): O ye hills and birds, echo his psalms of praise! And We made the iron supple unto 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 (subjugated) the wind to Solomon. Its morning's journey took one month, and the evening's one month. We made a spring of molten brass to flow for him; and many jinns laboured for him by the will of his Lord. Anyone of them who turned from Our command was made to taste the torment of blazing fire. 12 They made for him what he pleased of fortresses and images, and bowls (large) as watering-troughs and cooking-pots that will not move from their place; give thanks, O family of Dawood! and very few of My servants are grateful. 13 But when We decreed death for him, naught showed them his death but a creature of the earth that ate away his staff; and when it fell down, the jinn came to know plainly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in abasing torment. 14 Assuredly there was for Saba a sign in their own dwelling-place: two gardens on the right hand and on the left. And it was said unto them: eat ye of the provision of your Lord and give thanks unto Him; a fair land and a forgiving Lord. 15 But they turned away [refusing], so We sent upon them the flood of the dam, and We replaced their two [fields of] gardens with gardens of bitter fruit, tamarisks and something of sparse lote trees. 16 As such We recompensed them for their disbelief; do We recompense any except the unbelievers? 17 Between them and the villages which We had blessed, We placed easily visible villages, and We spaced the journey between them exactly. (We said) 'Travel through them by day and night in safety' 18 but they said, "Our Lord! Make the stages of our journeys longer." Thus they wronged themselves and We made them bygone tales and scattered them throughout the land. There are certainly signs in that for everyone who is steadfast and thankful. 19 And assuredly Iblis found his conjecture true concerning them; and they followed him all save a party of the believers. 20 He had no authority over them save for the purpose of Our knowing who believed in the world to come, and who doubted it. For your Lord keeps a watch over everything. 21