(Tafsir for 17 is identical to 16 in the user text) Then they turned away from the command of Allah and His gratitude and belied the messengers, so We sent upon them the severe sweeping flood which ruined the dam and drowned the gardens, and We replaced them with their both fertile gardens two gardens possessors of a bitter consumption, and it is the bitter fruit offensive in taste, and tamarisk which is a tree resembling the 'al-tarfa' having no fruit for it, and a little from the lote-tree much in thorns. That replacement from good to evil is because of their disbelief, and their lack of gratitude for the blessings of Allah, and We do not punish with this severe punishment except the rejecter excessive in disbelief, who is recompensed for his action a like by a like.