Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 33:25/אבן עזרא על דברים ל״ג:כ״ה
אברזל ונחשת מנעליך. כי בחלקו יהיה הרי ברזל ונחשת:
1IRON AND BRASS SHALL BE THY BARS.161. I.E. renders this, the place where you walk upon with your shoes (na’alkha). Hence I.E.’s interpretation. For mountains of iron and brass shall be in his portion.162
בוכימיך דבאך. אין לו ריע וטעם המתרגם ידוע כי תוקף יהיה לך כל ימיך ויש אומרים שהאל״ף תחת אות הכפל כמו אשר בזאו נהרים ארצו והטעם מגזרת דובב שפתי ישנים. וזה הטעם בלי טעם:
2AND AS THY DAYS, SO SHALL THY STRENGTH BE. The word dovekha (thy strength) has no neighbor.163 The interpretation of the Aramaic translation164 (and as thy days, so shall thy strength be), and as thy youth so shall your strength be [all the days of your life]. is known, namely, that you will be strong all your days. Some say that the alef of dovekha is in place of the doubled letter.165 comes from the root dalet, bet, bet. It is like the word baze’u (divide)166, for the alef in baze’u takes the place of a zayin. in Whose land the rivers divide (Is. 18:2). They believe that dovekha is related to the word dovev (moving gently) in Moving gently the lips of those that are asleep (Cant. 7:10).167 to mean: as in your youth so shall you speak [all the days of your life]; i.e., you shall always speak happily as young people are wont to do (Weiser). This interpretation is not reasonable.168