ٱلْكَهْف : ٧٧

  • فَٱنطَلَقَا So they set out
  • حَتَّىٰٓ until
  • إِذَآ when
  • أَتَيَآ they came
  • أَهۡلَ (to the) people
  • قَرۡيَةٍ (of) a town
  • ٱسۡتَطۡعَمَآ they asked for food
  • أَهۡلَهَا (from) its people
  • فَأَبَوۡاْ but they refused
  • أَن to
  • يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا offer them hospitality
  • فَوَجَدَا Then they found
  • فِيهَا in it
  • جِدَارٗا a wall
  • يُرِيدُ (that) want(ed)
  • أَن to
  • يَنقَضَّ collapse
  • فَأَقَامَهُۥۖ so he set it straight
  • قَالَ He said
  • لَوۡ If
  • شِئۡتَ you wished
  • لَتَّخَذۡتَ surely you (could) have taken
  • عَلَيۡهِ for it
  • أَجۡرٗا a payment
So they set out, until when they came to the people of a town, they asked its people for food, but they refused to offer them hospitality. And they found therein a wall about to collapse, so he [i.e., al-Khiḍr] restored it. [Moses] said, "If you wished, you could have taken for it a payment."
So they set off, until, when they came to the folk of a [certain] town, namely, Antioch (Antaakya), they asked its folk for food, they asked them for food by way of hospitality, but they refused to extend them any hospitality. They then found in it a wall, one hundred cubits high, about to collapse, that is, it was close to falling down because of its tilt; so he, al-Khidr, straightened it, with his [own] hands. He, Moses, said, to him, 'Had you wished, you could have taken (a variant reading [for la-ttakhadhta] has la-takhidhta) a wage for it', some [sort of] payment, since they did not extend us any hospitality despite our need for food.