Perhaps Alma physically needed a respite of “many days” to prepare to reopen his mission among the Ammonihahites because of his many days of fasting (v. 26). Perhaps his preparation took some other form. In any case, Alma began to preach alone, as he had done before. Not only does he reexperience failure but the Ammonihahites actually “did wax more gross in their iniquities.”
Variant: The printer’s manuscript and the 1830 edition begin verse 27 with: “And it came to pass that Alma.… ”