His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And when your Lord announced that He would surely send upon them until the Day of Resurrection those who would inflict upon them the worst of punishment. Indeed, your Lord is swift in penalty, and indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful.﴾

﴿And We divided them in the earth into nations. Among them are the righteous, and among them are others besides that. And We tested them with good and evil that perhaps they would return.﴾

The root of "تَأذَّنَ" is that which necessitates earning, from أذِنَ meaning to know, and آذَنَ meaning to inform, similar to كَرُمَ and أَكْرَمَ and تَكَرَّمَ. However, when تَعَلَّمَ (and what follows this verb) is ascribed to the name of Allah, exalted and majestic is He, it does not carry the meaning of earning that is associated with the moderns. Rather, it is based on the meaning of knowledge of a quality, not on earning. It is rather self-sufficient. To this meaning, the poet leans with his saying:

؎ Learn, you who have been cursed.

For he did not command him to learn that which necessitates ignorance, but rather intended to make him aware of the strength of his knowledge. And from this is the saying of Zuhayr:

؎ Learn that the worst of people is a tribe ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗ called out in their insignia: 'Yasar.'

So the meaning of this verse is: And when Allah knew that He would surely send upon them, and the strength of the speech necessitates that this knowledge from Him is accompanied by execution and enforcement, as you say in a matter you have firmly resolved upon: "Allah knew that I would surely do such and such." Abu Ali al-Farisi leaned towards this, and al-Tabari and others said: "تَأذَّنَ" means: He informed, and he is concerned regarding the inflection since the relation of "تَأذَّنَ" to the doer is not like the relation of "أعْلَمَ." The clarification of this (p-77) is from the transitive and otherwise. Mujahid said: "تَأذَّنَ" means: He said, and it has been narrated from him that its meaning is: He commanded, and a group said: The meaning of "تَأذَّنَ" is: تَأْلّى.

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

They were led to this saying by the entry of the لام in the response, and as for the wording, it is far from this.

And the pronoun in "عَلَيْهِمْ" refers to those who remained from the Children of Israel, not to the pronoun in "لَهُمْ." And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿مَن يَسُومُهُمْ﴾ Said Sa'id ibn Jubayr: It is a reference to punishment, and Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, said: It refers to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and his nation.

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

The correct view is that it is general for all who have this condition with the Jews, and "يَسُومُهُمْ" means: He burdens them and imposes upon them, and ﴿سُوءَ العَذابِ﴾ evidently refers to the jizyah and humiliation. And Allah has decreed upon them this and has diminished their kingdom, so there is no banner for a Jew on earth. Ibn al-Musayyib said: It is recommended that the Jews be burdened in the jizyah. It has been reported that a group from the Romans took control in their region, so they sold the neighboring Jews who lived with them and took possession of them.

Then it was appropriate at the end of this verse - due to its inclusion of their downfall and warning - to alert to the swiftness of Allah's punishment and to frighten with that a general fright for all people, then He hoped for that as a kindness from Him, blessed and exalted is He.

'And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And We divided them" means: We differentiated them in the land. Al-Tabari said about a group of the interpreters: There is no spot on earth except that there is a gathering of Jews in it. The apparent reference in this verse is to those who came after Solomon at the time of the decline of their kingdom. It appears that this was before the time of Jesus, peace be upon him, because there were no righteous among them after their disbelief in Jesus, blessings and peace be upon him. In the histories regarding this matter, there are conflicting reports. The righteous and those below them are terms that may refer to the righteousness of faith. So, "below" means those who are not, referring to the disbelievers. And if righteousness is intended to mean worship and good deeds and the consequences of faith, then "below that" may refer to believers. (p-78) "And We tested them" means: We examined them. The good deeds are health, prosperity, and similar things according to the perspective of the son of Adam. The bad deeds are the opposites of these. His saying: "Perhaps they" means: According to your perspective if you were to witness that. The meaning is: Perhaps they will return to obedience and repent from disobedience.