Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 19:18/אבן עזרא על בראשית י״ט:י״ח
אאל נא אדני. חול ונקמץ בעבור שהוא סוף פסוק ויאמר ר' שמואל הספרדי הנגיד ז"ל כי אל נא מגזרת הואל ועל דעתי שהוא כמו לא כי כשאמרו לו ההרה המלט השיב לא כן רבותי:
1OH, NOT SO MY LORD. Adonai (my lord) does not refer to God. It is vocalized with a kamatz only because it comes at the end of the verse.33 with a kamatz usually refers to God. Here it does not. It means my lords. It is vocalized with a kamatz because the pattach changes to a kamatz at the end of a verse. Rabbi Samuel Ha-Nagid the Spaniard, of blessed memory, said that al (not so) in al na (Oh, not so) is derived from the same root as ho’il (wanted, was willing).34 is an imperative from the root yod, alef, lamed, meaning to want or to be willing (Krinsky). Lot’s reply to the angels was: My lords, please accept (want, show willingness to) my request. However, I believe that al means no. The meaning of our verse is as follows: When the angels told Lot, escape to the mountain, Lot replied, “Oh, not so my lords.”