al-Baqara 2:207 — And the opposite portrait

"And among the people is one who sells himself seeking God's good pleasure."

يَشْرِى نَفْسَهُ — the root shirāʾ is used in Arabic both for selling and for buying (aḍdād: words of contrary sense). The widespread rendering here is to sell: the person gives himself.

Two verses, two portraits, opening with the same pattern: وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن… Both begin with "among the people is one who".

The sūra is describing a type here, not denouncing a person. An attribute is set down; whoever carries that attribute is included in it — a line preserved throughout the sūra.