"And upon the three," meaning: and He turned in mercy to those who were held back from the expedition of Tabuk; and they are those who were postponed in the first verse in His saying—Exalted and Majestic is He—: "And others deferred for the command of Allah." They are: Ka'b ibn Malik, Hilal ibn Umayyah, and Murarah ibn Rabi'ah.

"Until when the earth, for all its vastness, became constricted for them," meaning: for all its spaciousness, "and they perceived," meaning: they realized