Comments are required from seniors on the type of Surah translation. Whether simple words translation gains excellent marks or we have to adopt literary style. I am posting here some examples and suggestions are solicited from the experienced intellectuals of this forum.
Please suggest which one is the best from the following three translation versions.
1) Pickthal
2) Shakir
3) Yusuf Ali


Surah Al-Feel (the elephant)In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Total Verses : 5
Ayah: 1
Arabic: أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِأَصْحَابِ الْفِيلِ
Pickthal: Hast thou not seen how thy Lord dealt with the owners of the Elephant?
Shakir: Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with the possessors of the elephant?
Yusuf Ali: Seest thou not how thy Lord dealt with the Companions of the Elephant?

Ayah: 2
Arabic: أَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ كَيْدَهُمْ فِي تَضْلِيلٍ
Pickthal: Did He not bring their stratagem to naught,
Shakir: Did He not cause their war to end in confusion,
Yusuf Ali: Did He not make their treacherous plan go astray?

Ayah: 3
Arabic: وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيلَ
Pickthal: And send against them swarms of flying creatures,
Shakir: And send down (to prey) upon them birds in flocks,
Yusuf Ali: And He sent against them Flights of Birds,

Ayah: 4
Arabic: تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ مِّن سِجِّيلٍ Pickthal: Which pelted them with stones of baked clay,
Shakir: Casting against them stones of baked clay,
Yusuf Ali: Striking them with stones of baked clay.

Ayah: 5
Arabic: فَجَعَلَهُمْ كَعَصْفٍ مَّأْكُولٍ
Pickthal: And made them like green crops devoured (by cattle)?
Shakir: So He rendered them like straw eaten up?
Yusuf Ali: Then did He make them like an empty field of stalks and straw, (of which the corn) has been eaten up.