2/153 — The same command coming a second time
This sentence occurs in the sūra for the second time; the first was at verse 45. But there is a difference, and the difference is in the one addressed:
The same counsel, that is, is first transmitted as given to the old community, and then given directly to the new one. An instance of what the sūra has been doing from the beginning: the history recounted turns into a warning belonging to the reader.
And the point at which it is placed matters. The previous section recounted the change of qibla, that is, the testing of a community. Immediately afterwards the verses of hardship will come. The command about patience and prayer stands right in the middle — not before the test and not after it, but in between.