Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 19:5/אבן עזרא על דברים י״ט:ה׳
אאת רעהו. עם וכן רבים:
1HIS NEIGHBOR. Et re’ehu means with his neighbor. There are many such cases.4 has the meaning of im. See Ex. 1:1.
בונדחה. מבנין נפעל והקל נדחי ישראל יכנס:
2FETCHETH A STROKE. Ve-niddechah (fetcheth a stroke) is a nifal. Nidche (the dispersed of) in He gathereth together the dispersed of Israel (Ps. 147:2) is the kal form.
גבגרזן. ברזל שיכרתו בו העץ מגזרת נגזרתי:
3WITH THE AXE. Garzen (axe) refers to a metal instrument used to cut a tree down. It is related to the word nigzarti (I was cut off).5. However, I.E. believes that nigrazti and nigzarti are one and the same word, with the letters inverted. See I.E. on Ps. 31:23.
דונשל הברזל. כמו ונסע מגזרת כי ישל זיתך רק זה נשל פעל עומד ונשל גוים רבים יוצא וכן קול גדול ולא יסף עם יסף ה' יגון על דעת מדקדק גדול כי על דעתי שניהם יוצאים:
4AND THE HEAD SLIPPETH FROM THE HELVE. Venashal (slippeth) is similar to ve-nasa (shall set forward) (Num. 2:17).6 It is related to the word yishal (shall drop off) in for thine olives shall drop off (Deut. 28:40). The word ve-nashal (and shall cast) in and shall cast out many nations (Deut. 7:1) is transitive. However, ve-nashal (slippeth) in our verse is intransitive. According to a great grammarian the same is true of the word yasaf (more) in with a great voice, and it went on no more (Deut. 5:19) and yasaf (added) in For the Lord hath added sorrow (Jer. 45:3).7 is intransitive in Deut. 5:19 and intransitive in Jer. 45:3. However, I believe that they are both transitive.