ثُمَّ إِنّي دَعَوتُهُم جِهارًا

ثُمَّ إِنّي أَعلَنتُ لَهُم وَأَسرَرتُ لَهُم إِسرارًا

Again I summoned them aloud,

and again appealed to them publicly and confided with them privately.

EXEGESIS

Jihāran (aloud) in verse 8 is a calling out at the top of one’s voice.^{‎[1]Mizan, 20/29.}

Aʿlantu (I appealed publicly) in verse 9 is literally ‘announced in public’, as the exact opposite of asrartu (I confided) also in verse 9, to indicate that Prophet Noah (a) stood in public places to announce his prophethood and call people to worship one God and forsake idols, in plain sight and open spaces, such as in the marketplaces and where people would usually congregate, and he also went to speak to them in private, to those he hoped he could appeal, or to the notables he sought to influence so that they, in turn, would influence society positively.

EXPOSITION

Prophet Noah (a) is persistent. He does not give up just because his people are not interested in being admonished.

One could interpret all the elaboration by Prophet Noah (a) in the literal sense, and conclude that his preaching went through three phases; first, he preached to them individually and in private: night and day (verse 5) but they began evading him. Then he began preaching aloud and in public (verse 8), and thereafter he became even more emphatic and used both methods (verse 9).^{‎[2]Razi, 3/61; Zamakhshari, 4/616.} The Holy Prophet as well, notes Nasr, did not preach publicly until three years after receiving the first revelation.^{‎[3]Nasr, p. 1423.}

But one might also interpret what Prophet Noah (a) means by publicly and privately, preaching night and day, as a metaphoric expression to mean he exhausted every imaginable avenue, sparing no effort, approaching them in groups and individually, at all times, and in every possible manner, but to no avail, and most of them remained persistently defiant.

[1] Mizan, 20/29.
[2] Razi, 3/61; Zamakhshari, 4/616.
[3] Nasr, p. 1423.