Overall meaning : Allah, Exalted be He, says: The Arab idolaters solemnly swore by Allah that if a messenger came to them from Him to warn them of His punishment, they would be better guided than the previous communities. When Muhammad, did, however, come to warn them, his coming only increased their aversion to the truth, behaving arrogantly in the land and plotting evil by making falsehood seem fair to people and turning them away from the truth. Yet such evil scheming will engulf only those who plot evil. Are they awaiting anything other than the way We dealt with the unbelieving nations before them and thus make them suffer the same fate?! Never will you, Muhammad, find any change in Allah’s way. His punishment is never replaced by anything else, nor is it ever meted out other than to those deserving it.
Have these idolaters not travelled in the land and seen the fate of the unbelievers before them, so that they may draw lessons from the punishment that had befallen them?! They were far mightier than the Quraysh unbelievers, but there is nothing in the heavens or the earth that can frustrate Allah. He is All-knowing, All-Powerful.
Were Allah to mete out punishment to people at once for whatever sins they commit, He would have destroyed every living thing on the face of the earth. However, He grants them respite for a term set by Him. And when their term comes to an end, He will repay them according to their deeds; for absolutely nothing about them is hidden from Him.