Indeed, they were not expecting an account (78:27)

﴿إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا لَا يَرْجُونَ حِسَابًا﴾
[ النبأ: 27]

78:27 Indeed, they were not expecting an account

Indeed, in the world, they did not fear the Allah taking them to account in the afterlife, because they did not bring faith in the resurrection.
So if they had feared the resurrection, they would have brought faith in Allah and performed good deeds.

For verily, they used not to look for a reckoning.

phonetic Transliteration

Innahum kanoo la yarjoona hisaban

Abdullah Yusuf Ali - Translation

For that they used not to fear any account (for their deeds),

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

For verily, they used not to look for a reckoning.

Page 582 English transliteration