فَلَمَّا كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمُ ٱلرِّجْزَ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍ هُم بَـٰلِغُوهُ إِذَا هُمْ يَنكُثُونَ
But when We removed the punishment from them until a term which they were to reach,1 then at once they broke their word.
Dimensional Analysis
Context
Every time the penalty fell on them, they said: "O Moses! on your behalf call on thy Lord in virtue of his promise to thee: If thou wilt remove the penalty from us, we shall truly believe in thee, and we shall send away the Children of Israel with thee."
But every time We removed the penalty from them according to a fixed term which they had to fulfil,- Behold! they broke their word!
So We exacted retribution from them: We drowned them in the sea, because they rejected Our Signs and failed to take warning from them.
Related Verses
واللهُ أعلمُ بالصَّواب