2: 27

Asad who break their bond with God after it has been established [in their nature] (note 19), and cut asunder what God has bidden to be joined, and spread corruption on earth: these it is that shall be the losers.

Yusuf Ali Those who break Allah's Covenant after it is ratified and who sunder what Allah has ordered to be joined and do mischief on earth: These cause loss (only) to themselves.

Pickthall Those who break the covenant of Allah after ratifying it and sever that which Allah ordered to be joined, and (who) make mischief in the earth: Those are they who are the losers

Transliteration Allazina yanqudu_na'ahdalla_hi mim ba'di misa_qih(i), wa yaqta'u_na ma_ amaralla_hu bihi ay yu_sala wa yufsidu_na fil ard(i), ula_'ika humul kha_siru_n(a).

[Asad’s note: The “bond with God” (conventionally translated as “God’s covenant”) apparently refers here to man’s moral obligation to use his inborn gifts – intellectual as well physical – in the way intended for them by God. The “establishment” of this bond arises form the faculty of reason which, if properly used, must lead man to a realization of his own weakness and dependence on a causative power and, thus to a gradual cognition of God’s will with reference to his own behavior. This interpretation of the “bond with God” seems to be indicated by the fact that there is no mention of any specific “covenant” in either the receding or the subsequent verses of the passage under consideration. The deliberate omission of an explanatory reference in this connection suggests that the expression “bond with God” stands for something that is rooted in the human situation as such, and can, therefore, be perceived instinctively as well as through conscious experience…………]