( فلولا ) فهلا ( إذ جاءهم بأسنا ) عذابنا ، ( تضرعوا ) فآمنوا فكشف عنهم ، أخبر الله عز وجل أنه قد أرسل إلى قوم بلغوا من القسوة إلى أنهم أخذوا بالشدة في أنفسهم وأموالهم فلم يخضعوا ولم يتضرعوا ، فذلك قوله : ( ولكن قست قلوبهم وزين لهم الشيطان ما كانوا يعملون ) من الكفر والمعاصي .
If only they had humbled themselves before Allah, when His calamity came to them, and begged Allah to remove the calamity, then He would have shown them mercy. But they did not do that. Instead, their hearts became hard and they did not take notice and learn a lesson. Satan made the disbelief and sins that they were committing seem good to them, so they continued with those actions.