Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 3:15/אבן עזרא על בראשית ג׳:ט״ו

אואיבה.: הוא ישופך ראש. זרעה יככה בראש וכן אשר בשערה ישופני (איוב ט יז), דלא תראה מהכתוב אחריו, ויחסר הבי"ת כמו בי"ת הנמצא בית ד' (מ"ב יב יז):

1AND I WILL PUT ENMITY…THEY SHALL BRUISE THY HEAD. Her children shall smite thee upon thy head. Yeshufeni (bruise) in He that would break me (yeshufeni) with a tempest (Job 9:17) is similar to yeshufekha (shall bruise thee). Look at what follows and you will see that it is so.⁴¹. This proves that the verb yeshufeni means he will bruise me, or smite me. Since yeshufekha and yeshufeni come from one root, they have one meaning. Hence yeshufekha means shall bruise thee. A bet has been omitted from the word rosh (head) in they shall bruise thy head.⁴². With a bet it reads, They shall bruise thee upon the head. The bet is to be supplied by the reader. We find the same in into the house (bet) of the Lord⁴³. However, it reads, bet Adonai. (II Kings 12:17).

בעקב. הוא הרגל ואם הראש ראשון זה אחרון, וכן "ואת עקבו מים (יהושע ה יג):

2HEEL. Ekev means the foot. If the head symbolizes the first, then the heel symbolizes the last. Akevo in their rear (akevo) lying in wait on the west (Josh. 8:13), is similar.