ٱلْأَعْرَاف : ١٤٨

  • وَٱتَّخَذَ And took
  • قَوۡمُ (the) people
  • مُوسَىٰ (of) Musa
  • مِنۢ from
  • بَعۡدِهِۦ after him
  • مِنۡ from
  • حُلِيِّهِمۡ their ornaments
  • عِجۡلٗا a calf
  • جَسَدٗا an image
  • لَّهُۥ [for] it
  • خُوَارٌۚ (had) a lowing sound
  • أَلَمۡ Did not
  • يَرَوۡاْ they see
  • أَنَّهُۥ that it
  • لَا (could) not
  • يُكَلِّمُهُمۡ speak to them
  • وَلَا and not
  • يَهۡدِيهِمۡ guide them
  • سَبِيلًاۘ (to) a way
  • ٱتَّخَذُوهُ They took it (for worship)
  • وَكَانُواْ and they were
  • ظَٰلِمِينَ wrongdoers
And the people of Moses made, after [his departure], from their ornaments a calf - an image having a lowing sound. Did they not see that it could neither speak to them nor guide them to a way? They took it [for worship], and they were wrongdoers.
And the people of Moses, after him, that is, after he had departed for the communion [with God], made of their ornaments, which they had borrowed from Pharaoh's folk on the pretext of a wedding celebration, and which remained in their possession, a calf, which the Samaritan had fashioned for them therefrom; a [mere] living body (jasadan is a substitution [for 'ijlan, 'a calf']), of flesh and blood, which lowed, that is, [which] made audible sounds [like a cow]: it [the calf] was transformed in this way when the dust, which he [the Samaritan] had collected from [where] the hoof of Gabriel's steed [had trodden], was placed in its mouth, for it has the effect of [giving] life to that in which it is placed (the second direct object of the verb ittakhadha, '[they] made', has been omitted, but it would be ilaahan, '[as] a god'). Did they not see that it spoke not to them, nor guided them to any way?, so how can it be taken as a god? Yet they took it as such, a god, and were evildoers, for taking it so.