His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿He said, 'My Lord, forgive me and my brother, and admit us into Your mercy, for You are the most merciful of the merciful.'﴾ ﴿Indeed, those who took the calf will incur the wrath from their Lord and humiliation in this worldly life. And thus do We recompense the fabricators.﴾ ﴿And those who committed sins and then repented after that and believed, indeed, your Lord, after that, is Forgiving and Merciful.﴾

Moses sought forgiveness for his action with his brother and for his haste in throwing down the tablets. He sought forgiveness for his brother for his action in being patient with the Children of Israel. It may be that the seeking of forgiveness was for something other than this which we do not know, and Allah knows best.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿Indeed, those who took the calf﴾, this verse is addressed by Allah, exalted and glorified is He, to Moses, peace be upon him, for His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿They will incur﴾. And that incurring occurred in the time of Moses, peace be upon him. The wrath and humiliation refer to their command to kill themselves; this is the apparent meaning. Some of the interpreters said that humiliation refers to the jizyah. The reasoning for this saying is that the wrath and humiliation remained in the offspring of those intended by it initially, and it is as if the meaning is: they will incur upon their descendants. Ibn Jurayj said: The reference in His saying, 'those' is to those who died from the worshippers of the calf before repentance by killing themselves, and to those who fled and were not present at the time of the killing.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

The wrath - on this - and humiliation is the punishment of the Hereafter. The wrath from Allah, exalted and glorified is He, if taken in the meaning of will, is a description of essence. If taken in the meaning of punishment and infliction of vengeance, it is a description of action. (p-55) And His saying: ﴿And thus do We recompense the fabricators﴾ refers primarily to those who fabricated against Allah in the worship of the calf. The strength of the wording encompasses every fabricator until the Day of Resurrection. Sufyan ibn Uyaynah and Abu Qalabah and others said: Every person of innovation or fabrication is humiliated, and they cited this verse as evidence.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿And those who committed sins﴾, this verse contains the promise that Allah, exalted and glorified is He, forgives the repentant. The reference is to those who repented from the Children of Israel. And in the verse is an order of faith after repentance. The meaning of this is that He intended by His saying: 'and believed' that repentance is beneficial for them and saves them, so they should adhere to it. This is a specific faith after faith in general. It is possible that He means by His saying: 'and believed', that they acted with the actions of the believers until they reached that. It is possible that He intends affirmation, so He mentioned repentance and faith as they are interrelated. However, repentance - on this - must be from disbelief, and thus 'they repented - and believed' would mean one thing. This does not apply to the repentance of sins, for faith precedes that without a doubt, and it is interrelated with the repentance of disbelief. And His saying: ﴿Indeed, your Lord﴾ is an obligation and a promising reassurance.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

It is possible that his saying: "They repented - and they believed" does not intend the order of the two actions according to the custom of the conjunction 'and' in that it does not necessitate an order. And 'and they believed' could mean: they are believers before and after, so it is as if he said: and among their attributes is that they believed.