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Ibn Ezra on Exodus 18:17/אבן עזרא על שמות י״ח:י״ז

אויאמר לא טוב הדבר אשר אתה עושה. בעיני, ונתן טעם לדבריו, והוא נבול תבול, מגזרת ועלהו לא יבול (תה' א ג) כאלה נובלת עליה (ישעי' א ל) כי הטעם שיפול מעצמו כנבול עלה דרך משל ומלת גם כמוה, גם כי כבד ממך הדבר:

1AND…SAID…THE THING THAT THOU DOEST IS NOT GOOD. In my eyes. Jethro then explained himself, Thou wilt surely wear away. Navol tibbol (thou shalt surely wear away) comes from the same root as yibbol (wither)¹⁸⁰. Navol is an infinitive and tibbol an imperfect. The literal translation of navol tibbol is: wither you will wither; that is, you will collapse. in And whose leaf doth not wither (Ps. 1:3) and novelet (fadeth)¹⁸¹ in For ye shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fadeth (Is. 1:30). Its meaning is, you shall, as it were, drop like a withered leaf. The word gam (both)¹⁸² is to be prefaced also to for the thing is too heavy for thee.¹⁸³ is not a reason for what precedes it but an additional reason why Moses should not judge the people all by himself. For an alternate interpretation see Filwarg.