twice."

He said: "They caused corruption the first time, so Allah sent Goliath against them, and he killed them. Then they caused corruption the second time, and they killed Yahya ibn Zakariyya (John, son of Zechariah), peace be upon them both, so Allah sent Bukhtanassar (Nebuchadnezzar) against them."

13190 - From Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said: "Allah first sent Goliath against them, and he ravaged their homes and imposed upon them tribute and humiliation. They asked Allah to send them a king to fight in the cause of Allah, so Allah sent Talut (Saul)."

His saying, the Almighty: "We sent against you servants of Ours, possessors of great military might."

13191 - From Mujahid, may Allah be pleased with him, regarding His saying: "We sent against you servants of Ours, possessors of great military might," he said: "An army came from Persia to spy on their affairs and overhear their talk. Bukhtanassar was among them, and he understood their talk better than his companions. Then he returned, and he sent [an army], and there was not much fighting, and the Children of Israel were granted victory over them. This is the promise of the first [occasion]. 'And when the promise of the second [occasion] came,' the King of Persia in Babylon sent an army and placed Bukhtanassar in command of them, and they destroyed them. This is the promise of the second [occasion]."

His saying, the Almighty: "They went through the land."

13192 - From Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, regarding His saying: "They went through the land," he said: "They walked."

His saying, the Almighty: "And We made you more numerous in manpower."

13193 - From Qatadah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "As for the first time, He empowered Goliath against them until Allah sent Talut, and with him was Dawud (David), and Dawud killed him. Then the turn was restored to the Children of Israel, and 'We made you more numerous in manpower,' meaning in numbers, and that was in the time of Dawud. 'And when the promise of the second [occasion] came,' [meaning] the last of the two punishments, 'so they might disfigure your faces,' he said: 'So they might make your faces ugly.' 'And to enter the mosque as they entered it the first time,' he said: 'As their enemy had entered it before that.' 'And to destroy whatever they had overcome with destruction,' he said: 'They would destroy whatever they had overcome with total destruction.' So in the latter [occasion], Allah sent against them Bukhtanassar the Babylonian, the Magian, the most hateful of Allah's creation to Him, and he took captives, killed, destroyed the Holy House (Bayt al-Maqdis), and subjected them to the worst of torments."

His saying, the Almighty: "We destroyed."

13194 - From Sa'id ibn Jubayr, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "We destroyed [tabbarna] means we annihilated [dammarna] in the Nabataean language."