Surah Sad 38:3

كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن قَرْنٍ فَنَادَوا۟ وَّلَاتَ حِينَ مَنَاصٍ

How many a generation have We destroyed before them, and they [then] called out; but it was not a time for escape.

Translation: Saheeh International

Tafsir

How many — in other words many — a generation a community of past communities We have destroyed before them and they cried out when the chastisement was sent down on them when it was no longer the time for escape that is to say the time was not one for fleeing the suffixed tā’ of wa-lāta is extra; …

Excerpt from Tafsir al-Jalalayn, commentary on 38:3, via Quran.com. The reader has the full commentary and 9 more tafsirs.