Those before them had also said so, and yet nothing of what they did availed them in the least.

Those before them also said the same, so their earnings did not benefit them at all.

So said those that were before them; but that they earned did not avail them,

The same did say [to themselves many of] those who lived before their time; but of no avail to them was all that they had ever achieved:

Surely those who were before them said it, yet there availed them not that which they had been earning.

Verily, those before them said it, yet (all) that they had earned availed them not.

Those before them said it, but what they had earned did not avail them.

Those before them said it, but what they had earned did not avail them.

Those before them said the same, but their gains were of no benefit to them.

Those before them said the same, but their gains were of no benefit to them.

The same had already been said by those ˹destroyed˺ before them, but their ˹worldly˺ gains were of no benefit to them.

Their predecessors also said the same, but their earnings proved of no avail to them,

Verily, those before them said it, yet (all) that they had earned availed them not.

Those before them said it, yet (all) that they had earned availed them not;

Those who were before them [also] said that, but what they used to earn did not avail them.

Those before them said the same, but what they earned did not help them;

Those before them had already said it, but they were not availed by what they used to earn.

People who lived before them had also said, "Our wealth has been earned by our own merits." What they had earned was of no benefit to them

Those before them did say it indeed, but what they earned availed them not.

Qad qalaha allatheena min qablihim fama aghna AAanhum ma kanoo yaksiboona

qad qālahā alladhīna min qablihim famā aghnā ʿanhum mā kānū yaksibūna

Those who preceded them said the same thing but they gained nothing from what they did;

Thus did the (generations) before them say! But all that they did was of no profit to them.