Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Exodus 8:11/אבן עזרא על שמות ח׳:י״א

אוירא פרעה כי היתה הרוחה. כמו וְרָוַח לשאול (ש"א טז):

1BUT WHEN PHARAOH SAW THAT THERE WAS RESPITE. The word harevachah (respite) is similar in meaning to ve-ravach (relief) in so Saul found relief (Jud. 16:23).

בוהכבד את לבו. שם הפועל תחת פועל עבר:

2HE HARDENED HIS HEART. Scripture employs an infinitive (hakhbed) in place of a perfect.¹⁴ (he hardened) rather than hakhbed (to harden), as the former is a perfect and the latter an infinitive. I.E. points out that Scripture occasionally uses an infinitive with the meaning of a perfect. As to the question of free will, see I.E. on Ex. 7:3.