The Quran

Preface

۞ يا أَيُّهَا الرَّسولُ لا يَحزُنكَ الَّذينَ يُسارِعونَ فِي الكُفرِ مِنَ الَّذينَ قالوا آمَنّا بِأَفواهِهِم وَلَم تُؤمِن قُلوبُهُم ۛ وَمِنَ الَّذينَ هادوا ۛ سَمّاعونَ لِلكَذِبِ سَمّاعونَ لِقَومٍ آخَرينَ لَم يَأتوكَ ۖ يُحَرِّفونَ الكَلِمَ مِن بَعدِ مَواضِعِهِ ۖ يَقولونَ إِن أوتيتُم هٰذا فَخُذوهُ وَإِن لَم تُؤتَوهُ فَاحذَروا ۚ وَمَن يُرِدِ اللَّهُ فِتنَتَهُ فَلَن تَملِكَ لَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيئًا ۚ أُولٰئِكَ الَّذينَ لَم يُرِدِ اللَّهُ أَن يُطَهِّرَ قُلوبَهُم ۚ لَهُم فِي الدُّنيا خِزيٌ ۖ وَلَهُم فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذابٌ عَظيمٌ

Yusuf Ali

O Messenger. let not those grieve thee, who race each other into unbelief:¹ (whether it be) among those who say “We believe” with their lips but whose hearts have no faith; or it be among the Jews,- men who will listen to any lie,- will listen even to others who have never so much as come² to thee. They change the words from their (right) times³ and places: they say, “If ye are given this, take it, but if not, beware!” If any one?s trial is intended by God, thou hast no authority in the least for him against God. For such - it is not God’s will to purify their hearts. For them there is disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter a heavy punishment.

Two classes of men are meant, viz., the Hypocrites and the Jews. For both of them Muṣṭafā laboured earnestly and assiduously, and it must have been a cause of great grief and disappointment to him that some among them showed so much insincerity, cunning, and hardness of heart. These are types not yet extinct.
There were men among the Jews who were eager to catch up any lie against the Prophet. They had their ears open even to tales from people who had never so much as come near to the Prophet If we understand “for” instead of “to” before “others” (for the Arabic word would bear both meanings), the sense will be: They are keen listeners or spies for any lies they can catch: and they will act as spies for others (their Rabbis, etc.) who are in the background but to whom they carry false tales.
Cf. 5:13. The addition of the words min ba'di here suggests the change of words from their right times as well as places. They did not deal honestly with their Law, and misapplied it, by distorting the meaning. Or it may be that as talebearers they distorted the meaning by misrepresenting the context.