And mention when We made a covenant with the Children of Israel in the Torah where We said ‘You shall not worship a variant reading for lā ta‘budūna has third person plural lā ya‘budūn ‘they shall not worship’ any other than God lā ta‘budūna illā Llāha is a predicate denoting a prohibition; one may also read lā ta‘budū Worship you not; and to be good and righteous to parents and the near of kin here kinship is adjoined to parents; and to orphans and to the needy; and speak well good words to men commanding good and forbidding evil being truthful with regard to the status of Muhammad (s) and being kind to them sc. orphans and the needy a variant reading for hasanan has husnan the verbal noun used as a hyperbolic description; and observe prayer and pay the alms’ which you actually accepted but then you turned away refusing to fulfil these obligations here the second person address is used but their forefathers are still meant; all but a few of you rejecting it like your forefathers.
