4 Preface وَقَضَينا إِلىٰ بَني إِسرائيلَ فِي الكِتابِ لَتُفسِدُنَّ فِي الأَرضِ مَرَّتَينِ وَلَتَعلُنَّ عُلُوًّا كَبيرًاYusuf AliAnd We gave (Clear) Warning to the Children of Israel1 in the Book, that twice2 would they do mischief on the earth and be elated with mighty arrogance (and twice would they be punished)!The Book is the revelation given to the Children of Israel. Here it seems to refer to the burning words of Prophets like Isaiah. For example, see Isaiah, chap. 24 or Isaiah 5:20-30, or Isaiah 3:16-26.What are the two occasions referred to? It may be that “twice” is a figure of speech for “more than once”, “often”. Or it may be that the two occasions refer to (1) the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C., when the Jews were carried off into captivity, and (2) the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in A.C. 70, after which the Temple was never rebuilt. See n. 2168 above. On both occasions it was a judgment of God for the sins of the Jews, their backslidings, and their arrogance.