Do they not see that We come to the land and reduce it from its borders? God gives judgment and there is none to override His judgment. He is quick reckoning.
Translation endnotes
[13:40-43] These verses contain one of the many implied prophecies about the mathematical miracle of the Quran, which was designed by God to be unveiled in 1974. The Arabic word we translated with the word "reckoning" is hesab, which also means "to number" or "to count." The Arabic of the Quran contains many such rich meanings, which are usually lost in translation. In the endnotes, we have pulled the attention to a few of them. Furthermore, the reduction of the land from its edges might be a prophetic reference to the feared consequence of global warming. Melting of the icebergs can increase the height of ocean and claim the shores of many regions, thereby reducing the land from its edges.