۞ 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 Saying: Make ample (coats of mail), and assign a time to the making of coats of mail and do good; surely I am Seeing what you do. 11 And unto Sulaiman We subjected the wind, whereof the morning journeying was a month and the evening journeying a month. And We made a fount of brass to flow for him. And of the jinn were some who worked before him by the will of his Lord. And whosoever of them swerved from Our command, him We shall cause to taste the torment of the Blaze. 12 They made for him whatever he wished, synagogues and statues, dishes large as water-troughs, and cauldrons firmly fixed (on ovens; and We said): "O House of David, act, and give thanks." But few among My creatures are thankful. 13 Yet [even Solomon had to die; but] when We decreed that he should die, nothing showed them that he was dead except an earthworm that gnawed away his staff. And when he fell to the ground, those invisible beings [subservient to him] saw clearly that, had they but understood the reality which was beyond the reach of their perception, they would not have continued [to toil] in the shameful suffering [of servitude] 14 INDEED, in [the luxuriant beauty of] their homeland, the people of Sheba had an evidence [of God's grace] two [vast expanses of] gardens, to the right and to the left, [calling out to them, as it were:] "Eat of what your Sustainer has provided for you, and render thanks unto Him: a land most goodly, and a Sustainer much-forgiving!" 15 In response they turned away – We therefore sent upon them a tremendous flood, and in exchange of their two gardens gave them two gardens bearing bitter fruit, and tamarisk, and some berries. 16 thus We requited them for their having denied the truth. But do We ever requite [thus] any but the utterly ingrate? 17 And We had placed between them and the cities which We had blest cities easy to be seen, and We had made the stages of journey between them easy; travel in them nights and days secure. 18 But they said, 'Our Lord, prolong the stages of our travel'; and they wronged themselves, so We made them as but tales, and We tore them utterly to pieces. Surely in that are signs for every man enduring, thankful. 19 And certainly the Shaitan found true his conjecture concerning them, so they follow him, except a party of the believers. 20 And yet, he had no power at all over them: [for if We allow him to tempt man,] it is only to the end that We might make a clear distinction between those who [truly] believe in the life to come and those who are in doubt thereof: for thy Sustainer watches over all things. 21