Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 14:10/אבן עזרא על בראשית י״ד:י׳

אבארות. באר בכל המקרא נובעת והיא משונה בעבור הסמיכה:

1PITS. Be’er (pit) in the Bible means a bubbling well. Its (pits) vocalization is exceptional because it is in the construct.¹⁸ (slime). Be’er is vocalized sheva tzere. In our verse it is vocalized segol, chataf segol. I.E. points out that this is so because the word is in the construct with chemar (slime). In other words, when be’er refers to live wells it is vocalized sheva tzere; when it refers to pits it is vocalized segol, chataf segol (Krinsky, Netter, Cherez). Or what I.E. means is that the word’s vowels change because it is in the construct (Filwarg).

בויפלו שמה. ברצונם להמלט וכן "ויפול על פניו" (במדבר טז ד):

2AND THEY FELL THERE. They deliberately fell there, in their desire to escape.¹⁹ And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face (Num. 16:4) is similar.²⁰

גהרה נסו. אל ההר נסו והיא מלה זרה:

3FLED TO THE MOUNTAIN. The phrase herah nasu is to be rendered: fled to the mountain. The word herah (to the mountain) is an irregular form.²¹ (Weiser).