Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 1:5/אבן עזרא על בראשית א׳:ה׳
אויקרא הא' לילה נוסף כי הוא מלעיל, ולעולם לשון זכר הוא,
1AND GOD CALLED. The heh of laylah (night) is superfluous, because the word is penultimately accented. It is always a masculine noun.79 of laylah (night) was an essential part of the word, laylah would be a feminine noun and would be accented on the last syllable (Filwarg).
בערב קרוב מטעם חשך, ונקרא כך שנתערבו בו הצורות ובקר הפך ערב שיוכל אדם לבקר בינות הצורות
2EVENING. Erev (evening) is close in meaning to choshekh (darkness). Erev is so called because forms are then intermingled.80) is ayin, resh, bet. The opposite of evening is called boker (morning) because one can then distinguish between various forms.81 means to examine. Cf. Lev. 27:33. One day refers to the movement of the sphere.82 There is a secret meaning to the Midrashic statement to the effect that the world will exist for six thousand years.83 97a. Once it is stated that God called the light “day,” it is impossible to maintain that the evening, too, is considered part of the day.84
גוטעם יום אחד הוא על תנועת הגלגל ויש סוד לדרש שית אלפי, ואחר שאמר שהאור יקרא יום לא יתכן שיקרא הערב יום, רק פי' היה ערב גם היה בקר של יום אחד, ואילו היה הערב והבקר יום אחד, מה טעם יום שני
3The correct interpretation of And there was evening and there was morning, one day is that evening passed and the morning of the first day also came. If the intention of this verse is to teach that evening and morning make a day, then what is the meaning of And there was evening and there was morning, a second day (v. 8)?85