Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 12:11/אבן עזרא על בראשית י״ב:י״א
אכאשר הקריב. מחנהו או הוא מהפעלים העומדים, כי ימצאו פעלים שיצאו ויעמדו
1WHEN HE WAS COME NEAR. When he caused his camp to come near.24 (he came near) to be a transitive verb, its meaning being: when he caused to come near, i.e., when he caused his camp to come near. On the other hand, hikriv (when he came near) may be intransitive.25 is to be rendered, when he came near. These two interpretations are possible because there are verbs which can be transitive and intransitive.
בומלת נא כמו עתה וכן "הנה נא זקנתי" (בראשית כז ב) "אוי נא לנו" (איכה ה טז) והיא הפוכה בלשון ישמעאל
2[NOW.] Na means now. Na in Behold now (na), I am old (Gen. 27:2), and Woe (na) unto us (Lam. 5:16)26 are similar. The reverse of Hebrew is the case in Arabic.27, rather than malna (Weiser).
גוטעם הנה נא ידעתי שהיה כיופי שרה בארצה רק במצרים וארץ הנגב לא היה כמוה כי הצורות משתנות בעבור האויר,
3[BEHOLD NOW, I KNOW.] There were women as beautiful as Sarah in her native country,28, i.e., before I didn’t. This is so because in the country from which she came there were other beautiful women. In Egypt Sarah’s beauty stood out. but in Egypt and the southern land there was none as beautiful. The reason for this is that people’s appearance is shaped by the climate.29
דוטעם ואותך יהי', שיתנו לך כל צרכיך, כי ימי רעבון היו:
4[BUT THEE THEY WILL KEEP ALIVE.] They will provide for all of your needs. Abraham said this because those were days of famine.