Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 30:20/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל׳:כ׳
אזבדני אלהים. כטעם נתן לי חלק ואין לו אח במקרא:
1GOD HATH ENDOWED ME. The meaning of zevadani (hath endowed me) is: has given me a portion. The word zevadani is not found elsewhere in Scripture.20
ביזבלני. יזבול עמי יהיה זבולו עמי תמיד, כמו "בנה בניתי בית זבול לך" (מ"א ח יג), "וכמוהו בני יצאוני" (ירמי' יו"ד כ) יצאו ממני, "ויבואני" (תהלים קיט מא) כלם הם פעלים עומדים:
2WILL DWELL WITH ME. Yizbeleni means will dwell with me;21 suffix at the end of a verse stands for oti. Hence yizbeleni should be translated: will dwell me, an impossible construction. Therefore I.E. points out that ni here does not have the meaning of oti (me) but immi (with me). Since the suffix ni means oti (me), it is usually combined only with a transitive verb, compare, zevadani (endowed me); hikkani (smite me), yahargeni (will kill me) and others (Weiser). i.e., his dwelling (zevulo) will always be with me. Compare, I have surely built Thee a house of habitation (bet zevul) (I Kings 8:13). Yetza’uni (are gone forth from me), in banai yetza’uni (my children are gone from me) (Jer. 10:20), and vi-yevo’uni (also come unto me) (Ps. 119:41) are similar. All of these are intransitive verbs with the pronominal suffix ni.