If the address is directed to the hypocrites, then it belongs to the rhetorical device of variegated address and iltifāt, marking a transition from the third-person (1) to direct speech, as in His words:

“The Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful; Master of the Day of Recompense; You alone we worship” (Q 1:3–5).

Thereafter, the discourse shifts from direct address back to the third-person (2) in His statement, “Such are the ones whose deeds have come to nothing” (Q 9:69) (3), and likewise (4) in His words:

“Until, when you were on board the ship and it sailed with them with a favourable wind and they rejoiced in it …” (Q 10:22) (5),

and His words:

“And He has made disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience hateful to you; those are the rightly guided” (Q 49:7) (6).

The pronoun in “Such are the ones whose deeds have come to nothing” (Q 9:69) most plainly refers to the self-indulgent plungers from this community, as He later says (7):

“Has there not come to them the news of those who were before them?” (Q 9:70) (8).

If, however, the address is intended for the entire nation to whom the Messenger was sent, then the iltifāt occurs only at the second point.

As for His words, “so they enjoyed their allotted share” (Q 9:69), the Tafsīr of ʿAbd al-Razzāq (9) relates from