That they may not cease, the dislike of them ceasing. Or it prevents them from ceasing: because holding back is prevention. Indeed, He was forbearing, forgiving, not quick to punish, as He holds them back. They were worthy of being shaken, due to the greatness of the word of polytheism, as He said: 'The heavens are about to burst from it, and the earth to split.' And it was read: 'And if they were to cease,' and 'if He holds them back.'

The answer to the oath in 'And if they were to cease' serves as a substitute for the two answers. The first is additional for the emphasis of the negation, and the second is for the beginning. After Him: after His holding back.

And from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said to a man coming from the Levant: Who did you meet? He said: Ka'b. He said: And what did you hear him say? He said: I heard him say: 'Indeed, the heavens are on the shoulder of a king.' He said: Ka'b lied. Did he not leave his Judaism after [I did not find it]. And Al-Tabari narrated from the narration of Abu Wail, who said: A man came to Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, and said: From where have you come? He said: From the Levant, and he mentioned something similar, except that he did not say: 'What did he leave his Judaism.' Then he recited this verse.