يَقْدُمُ قَوْمَهُۥ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ فَأَوْرَدَهُمُ ٱلنَّارَ ۖ وَبِئْسَ ٱلْوِرْدُ ٱلْمَوْرُودُ
Important Words:
اوردھم (bring them down). The word اورد as well as الورد (watering-place) and المورود (arrived at) are all derived from ورد. They say وردہ i.e. he (a man or a camel, etc.) came to it, or arrived at it, namely water, whether he entered it or not. ورد علیھا means, he came to or arrived at it (water, town, etc.). اوردہ means, he brought him to the watering-place or he simply brought him or made him come or be present at a certain place. اوردہ الماء means, he made him come or he brought him to the water. اوردہ واصدرہ means, he brought it and (then) took it away. ورد (wird) means, coming to or arriving at water, etc.; water to which one comes to drink; the time or turn of coming to water; a company of men or a number of camels or birds coming to or arriving at water; a portion or share of water; the day or turn of a fever when it attacks the patient intermittently or periodically; a portion of the night in which a man has to pray; a section or division of the Quran portioned out for recitation at a certain time. مورود is the passive participle from ورد (warada) and means a place or person arrived at or visited. وارد which is the active participle means, he who comes or arrives at a place (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
The verse means to say that all that Pharaoh did for his people was to bring them to the verge of Hell and cause them to fall into it. As shown under Important Words, the word اورد (will bring down) is generally used with reference to water but here it has been used in connection with fire in order to point out that instead of obtaining water, which is the source of physical and spiritual life (21:31), these people will land in fire, which is the killer of life. Thus their own efforts which were employed to destroy rather than get spiritual life will appear to them in an embodied form.
The expression may also contain an allusion to the fact that the descent of the people of Pharaoh into Hell will be like the repairing of a thirsty man to a place of water, i.e. corrupt as they are, it will prove the means of satisfying their peculiar thirst. The fire will purify them of their sins and thus, through it, they will at last succeed in satisfying their spiritual thirst.
Wird is derived from Warada and means, time; place and turn of watering; people or cattle coming to a watering place (Aqrab).