Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Exodus 23:22/אבן עזרא על שמות כ״ג:כ״ב
אבעבור שמצאו חכמי ספרד איבה בהעלם היו"ד, וכתוב וְאָיַבְתִּי את איביךָ. גם ציד חיה (ויקרא יז יג) אמר צַיָדִים (ירמי' טז טז) ודין עני לא דנו, והיה ה' לְדַיָּן (ש"א כד טז), על כן אמרו אין פועל פחות מג' אותיות, על כן איבה מעלומי העין:
1[AN ADVERSARY.] The wise men of Spain found the word evah (enmity)177. The yod is not sounded. The root of evah is alef, yod, bet. spelled with a silent yod (Gen. 3:15). However, our verse reads, ve-ayavti178. et oyevekha (I will be an enemy unto thine enemies).179 is sounded. They also found Scripture reading tzed180. The yod is silent in tzed. chayyah (in hunting any beast) (Lev. 17:13) and tzayyadim181 is sounded in tzayyadim. Both tzayyadim and tzed come from the same root. (hunters) (Jer. 16:16). They also found the word din (the cause) in They plead not the cause of the poor (Jer. 5:28)182 from Jer. 22:16. It does not appear in Jer. 5:28. and dayyan183 is silent in the word din but sounded in dayyan. Both din and dayyan come from the same root. (judge) in The Lord therefore be judge (I Sam. 24:16). They therefore said that a verb has no less than three letters.184, as we have seen, is not sounded in tzed and din. This would seem to indicate that these words come from a two-letter stem and that the yod serves as a vowel letter. However, in view of the fact that the yod is sounded in tzayyad and dayyan, it is clear that these words have a threeletter root, and that the yod in tzed and din is a root letter. Hence evah185, and din. comes from a root whose middle letter is silent.186.