Translation:

38. Remember also the `Ad and the Thamud (people): clearly will appear to you from (the traces) of their buildings (their fate): the Evil One made their deeds alluring to them and kept them back from the Path though they were gifted with Intelligence and Skill.

Notes (Tafseer)

3459. For the 'Ad people see vii. 65-72, and n. 1040, and for the Thamud, vii. 73-79, and n. 1043. The remains of their buildings show (1) that they were gifted with great intelligence and skill; (2) that they were proud of their material civilization; and (3) their destruction argues how the greatest mataterial civilization and resources cannot save a People who disobey Allah's moral law.

3460. They were so arrogant and self-satisfied, that they missed the higher purpose of life, and strayed clean away from the Path of Allah. Though their intelligence should have kept them straight, Evil made them crooked and led them and kept them astray.