أَوْ تَقُولُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَآ أَشْرَكَ ءَابَآؤُنَا مِن قَبْلُ وَكُنَّا ذُرِّيَّةً مِّنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ ۖ أَفَتُهْلِكُنَا بِمَا فَعَلَ ٱلْمُبْطِلُونَ
aw taqūlū innamā ashraka ābāunā min qablu wakunnā dhurriyyatan min baʿdihim afatuh'likunā bimā faʿala l-mub'ṭilūna
Or [lest] you say, "It was only that our fathers associated [others in worship] with Allāh before, and we were but descendants after them. Then would You destroy us for what the falsifiers have done?"
— Saheeh International
or, ‘It was our forefathers who, before us, ascribed partners to God, and we are only the descendants who came after them: will you destroy us because of falsehoods they invented?’
— M. A. S. Abdel Haleem
Or lest you should say: "It was only our fathers afortime who took others as partners in worship along with Allâh, and we were (merely their) descendants after them; will You then destroy us because of the deeds of men who practised Al-Bâtil (i.e. polytheism and committing crimes and sins, invoking and worshipping others besides Allâh)?" (Tafsir At-Tabarî).
— Muhammad Muhsin Khan & Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali