And [recall] when We took your covenant and raised over you the mount, [saying], "Take what We have given you with determination and listen." They said [instead], "We hear and disobey." And their hearts absorbed [the worship of] the calf because of their disbelief. Say, "How wretched is that which your faith enjoins upon you, if you should be believers."
وَأُشۡرِبُواْAnd they were made to drinkwa-ush'ribū
فِيinfī
قُلُوبِهِمُtheir heartsqulūbihimu
ٱلۡعِجۡلَ(love of) the calfl-ʿij'la
بِكُفۡرِهِمۡۚbecause of their disbeliefbikuf'rihim
قُلۡSayqul
بِئۡسَمَاEvil (is) thatbi'samā
يَأۡمُرُكُمorders you (to do) ityamurukum
بِهِۦٓwithbihi
إِيمَٰنُكُمۡyour faithīmānukum
إِنifin
كُنتُمyou arekuntum
مُّؤۡمِنِينَbelieversmu'minīna
Tafsir
Remember when you made a binding promise with God to follow Moses, peace be upon him, and to accept what he brought from God. God raised the mountain over you so that you were awestruck, and told you to hold tightly and seriously to the scripture He had sent you, and to listen and follow what was revealed to you, if not God would make the mountain fall upon you, you said that you heard with your ears and rebelled in your actions. The worship of the calf took hold of their hearts because of their denial and ingratitude. O Muhammad, what their faith commands them to do is evil: disbelieving and turning away from what Allah instructs them to do – if they have any faith at all – because if they truly had faith they would not disbelieve and turn away from it.