Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Exodus 29:12/אבן עזרא על שמות כ״ט:י״ב
אישפוך. הכהן השופך:
1HE SHALL POUR OUT.62. In our text of the Pentateuch the reading is: Thou shalt pour out (tishpokh). Meijler and Krinsky believe that I.E.’s version of the Pentateuch reads yishpokh (he shall pour out). However, Weiser believes that the reading of yishpokh is due to a copyist’s error. According to Weiser, I.E. also reads tishpokh (thou shalt pour out), and I.E. commented thereupon: Yishpokh ha-kohen ha-shofekh (The priest who pours shall pour out). In other words, I.E. explained, that Thou shalt pour is not to be taken literally, for Moses was not commanded to personally pour out the blood. He was told to appoint a priest to carry out this task. Some copyist then dropped the word tishpokh from the heading and made yishpokh into a heading. Hence our reading. The priest who pours shall pour out.63