'And it was said' means: with the slightest indication after the destruction of the people of the earth and their being emptied of the disbelievers, and the destruction of those in the plains and the mountains from the losers. This is from the use of the caused - which is the saying - on the cause - which is the intention - to depict a matter and a commanded thing that is in the utmost obedience, for it has a greater impact on the soul.

And when everything was beneath the station of majesty, grandeur, and might by a command that only Allah knows. This was indicated by the tool of distance, as He said: "O earth, swallow your water," meaning draw it without chewing into a hidden place gradually. And He specified the swallowed so that it would not encompass everything on its surface from mountains and others. For this reason, He used the singular and did not use the plural, saying: "your water," meaning that which has renewed on your surface for the flooding to be like food for the eater that strengthens his body so that he can grow with it and benefit from it. And He made it its water for its connection to it, the connection of ownership to the owner. "And O sky, cease," meaning stop the rain. So they both hastened to the command of the King, from whom nothing escapes His will. "And the water subsided," meaning the known water, was decreed to be hidden in the depths of the earth, from the overflowing. For it is said: the water subsided and Allah caused it to subside, just as it is said: something was undone and I undid it. "And the matter was decreed," meaning it was completed and resolved in the destruction of those who perished and the salvation of those who were saved, as the Majestic intended, according to what was previously promised to Noah, peace be upon him. No one could prevent it from them, nor divert it, nor delay it for a moment or less than that. So let him praise Allah who was spared from the punishment and let him not say: "What is preventing it?" so that he does not receive what has come to these or those after them. "And it settled," meaning it became stable and the ship settled "on Al-Judi," indicating by its name that the general vengeance has passed, and what remains is only the bounty of water, goodness, fertility, and general mercy. It is the mountain that connects after five months; Qatadah said: It settled with them for ten days that had passed from Rajab, and it was in the water for fifty and one hundred days, and it settled with them on Al-Judi for a month, and it descended with them on the day of Ashura. "And it was said," meaning an announcement of the humiliation of the doomed and the relief from them. "Distance" is from Ba'd - with a kasra, meaning the distance from where the destruction is, for its reality is a far distance from which return is not hoped. Then it was borrowed for destruction and specified with the supplication of evil, and it was expressed with the source to link it to the lam indicating entitlement and specification. "For the people," meaning those known in this story, which contained the severity of standing in what they attempted that no one knows except Allah. "The wrongdoers," meaning those deeply entrenched in wrongdoing. And this verse contains nineteen words with one and twenty types of rhetorical beauty - counted by Abu Hayyan, and it was narrated that an Arab heard it and said: This is the speech of the capable. And Al-Rummani mentioned several of its meanings, including the presentation of the matter in the direction of glorification for its doer without effort or fatigue, and among them: the good correspondence of meanings, and among them: the good coherence of words, and among them: the good expression in depicting the situation, and among them: brevity without deficiency, and among them: the acceptance of understanding in the utmost perfection; and swallowing: conducting something in the throat to the stomach; and ceasing: removing something from its origin until no trace remains; and subsiding: the hiding of water in the earth in the direction of drying. And the expression of the speech on the passive construction is more indicative of grandeur and greatness for the doer, indicating that it is known that no one can perform such actions except Him. And Al-Asbahani نقل عن صاحب المفتاح فيها كلاما أغلى من الجوهرة.