Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 32:24/אבן עזרא על דברים ל״ב:כ״ד

אמזי רעב. כמו שרופי רעב מגזרת למזא לאתונא:

1THE WASTING OF HUNGER. Meze ra’av (the wasting of hunger) means burnt by hunger. Meze (wasting) is similar to le-meze (that they should heat) in that they should heat the furnace (Dan. 3:19).

בולחומי רשף. אכולי עוף כמו ובני רשף יגביהו עוף והנכון בעיני שהזכיר הארבעה השפטי' הרעים והם רעב וזהו מזי רעב. ולחומי רשף וקטב מרירי זה הדבר. ושן בהמות אשלח בם חיה. וחרב מחוץ תשכל חרב. והנה יהיה פירוש רשף כמו רשפיה רשפי אש. והטעם שיתחמם האויר:

2AND THE DEVOURING OF THE FIERY BOLT. Le-chume reshef (the devouring of the fiery bolt) means consumed²⁴⁶ to lechem (bread). by birds.²⁴⁷ Compare, As the birds (bene reshef)²⁴⁸ fly upward (Job 5:7).²⁴⁹ It appears to me that Scripture mentions the four evil punishments. They are: starvation, which is what The wasting of hunger refers to; and the devouring of the fiery bolt, And bitter destruction refers to the plague; And the teeth of beasts will I send upon them refers to the beast: and finally [there is] the sword, as in Without shall the sword bereave (v. 25). Reshef (the fiery bolt) is thus similar to reshfeha rishpe esh (The flashes thereof are flashes of fire) (Cant. 8:6).²⁵⁰ means heat. It means that the air will grow hot.²⁵¹

גוקטב כמו הכרתה:

3AND …DESTRUCTION. Ketev means destruction.

דמרירי. מרירות באויר כמו כמרירי יום וכן כתוב מקטב ישוד צהרים כמו הדבר. ולחומי רשף כמו אכולי וכן רבים:

4BITTER. Meriri (bitter) refers to bitterness in the air. Compare, ke-meriri yom (like the bitterness of the day) (Job 3:5).²⁵² Scripture similarly writes, Nor of the destruction (ketev) that wasteth at noonday (Ps. 91:6). The latter refers to the plague. The word u-lechume in u-lechume reshef (and the devouring of the fiery bolt) means devoured by. There are many such instances.²⁵³ (bread). See Prov. 23:1,6; Ps. 141:4.

העם חמת זוחלי עפר. לנשוך והחמה כנוי לנשיכה:

5WITH THE VENOM OF CRAWLING THINGS OF THE DUST. The reference is to being bitten. Venom²⁵⁴, literally, anger of. refers to being bitten.

ווטעם עפר כמו השרפי' ומלת זוחלי מיראה כי כל רואם ייראם כטעם האימים כי יש תואר השם וחבירו באליהוא בן ברכאל:

6[DUST.] This refers to fiery snakes.²⁵⁵ Zochale (crawling) is related to the word fear.²⁵⁶. They are called zochale because all who see them are afraid of them.²⁵⁷ (crawling things of the dust) literally means the scary of the dust. It is similar to the term emim.²⁵⁸ This is so because there are adjectives [without nouns].²⁵⁹ is short for nechashim zochale afar (scary snakes that crawl on the ground). Similarly, emim is short for anashim emim (scary people). Its counterpart²⁶⁰ (I was afraid). Translated according to I.E. is found in the speech of Elihu the son of Barachel (Job 32:6).