۞ 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 (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 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 death for him, nothing showed his death to them save a creeping creature of the earth which gnawed away his staff. And when he fell the jinn saw clearly how, if they had known the Unseen, they would not have continued in despised toil. 14 Indeed there was for Saba' (Sheba) a sign in their dwelling place, - two gardens on the right hand and on the left (and it was said to them) "Eat of the provision of your Lord, and be grateful to Him, a fair land and an OftForgiving Lord. 15 But they turned away. So We let loose on them the inundation of (the dyke of) al-'Arim, replacing their gardens with two other gardens which bore only bitter gourd, and tamarisks and a few sparse 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: “Lord, make the stages of our journeys longer.” They wronged their own selves so We reduced them to bygone tales, and utterly tore them to pieces. Verily there are Signs in this for everyone who is steadfast and thankful. 19 And indeed Iblis made his assumptions regarding them seem true, so they all followed him except the group of Muslims. 20 He did not have any authority over them except to the extent that would allow Us to know who had faith in the life to come and who had doubts about it. Your Lord is a Guard over all things. 21