۞ 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 (Commanding), "Make thou coast of mail, balancing well the rings of chain armour, and work ye righteousness; for be sure I see (clearly) all that ye 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 fashioning for him whatsoever he would -- places of worship, statues, porringers like water-troughs, and anchored cooking-pots. 'Labour, O House of David, in thankfulness; for few indeed are those that are thankful among My servants.' 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 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 But they turned away; so We loosed on them the Flood of Arim, and We gave them, in exchange for their two gardens, two gardens bearing bitter produce and tamarisk-bushes, and here and there a few lote-trees. 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 set, between them and the towns which We had blessed, towns easy to be seen, and We made the stage between them easy, (saying): Travel in them safely both by night and day. 18 They said, "Lord, make the distances of our journeys longer." They did injustice to themselves and We turned their existence into ancient tales by making them disintegrate totally. In this there is evidence (of the truth) for every forbearing and grateful person. 19 Now, indeed, Iblis did prove that his opinion of them had been right: for [when he called them,] they followed him - all but some of the believers [among them]. 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