Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 14:3/אבן עזרא על בראשית י״ד:ג׳

אכל אלה חברו. מהבנין הקל:

1ALL THESE CAME AS ALLIES. Chaveru (came as allies) is in the kal.

בהשדים. כמו "ושדת אותם בשיד" (דבר' כז ב וד') "ותשם בסד רגלי" (איוב יג כז) כמו פת פתים:

2THE VALE OF SIDDIM. Siddim means the same⁴ means lime, whitewash or plaster. Hence the valley of Siddim means the valley of plaster. It was so called because of the plaster pits found there. as sid (plaster) in and plaster them with plaster (ba-sid)⁵. I.E.’s point is that siddim means the same as sid. However, they come from different roots. Sid in Deut. 27:2 comes from the root sin, vav, dalet. Siddim comes from sin, dalet, dalet, which is also the root of the word sad in Job 13:27. Siddim cannot be the plural of sid (Deut. 27:2) because it is spelled without a yod and has a dagesh in its dalet. I.E.’s point is that sad and sid mean the same although they come from different roots (Weiser). (Deut. 27:2) and sad (plaster) in Thou puttest my feet also in the plaster (ba-sad)⁶ is the plural of sad in Job. The sin and samach interchange. (Job 13:27). Sad, siddim, is like pat (morsel of bread), pittim.⁷ (Job. 13:27) to be saddim. I.E. points out that this is not necessarily so. Thus the plural of pat is pittim and not pattim. Similarly the plural of sad is siddim and not saddim (Krinsky and Cherez).

געמק. מושך עצמו ואחר עמו כמו "אל באפך תוכיחני" (תהלים ו ב) וכן הוא עמק ים המלח:

3VALE. The word vale is to be understood as if written twice. It is like the word al (not) in O Lord, rebuke me not (al) in Thine anger; Neither (ve-al) chasten me in Thy wrath (Ps. 6:2).⁸ is to be read as if written twice. It should be noted that the word al does appear twice in our verse. I.E. probably had Ps. 38:2 in mind. There the text literally reads, O, Lord, rebuke me not (al) in Thine anger, chasten me in Thy wrath. I.E. says that the verse should be read, O Lord rebuke me not (al) in Thine anger, chasten me not (al) in Thy wrath. I.E. probably cited from memory and misquoted. Our verse should be read as follows: All these came as allies unto the vale of Siddim, the same is the vale of the Salt Sea.⁹.