Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 31:7/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל״א:ז׳
אהתל בי. מלה זרה, בעבור היות התי"ו רפה, כי עיקרו להדגש כמו "וַיְהַתַּל בהם אליהו" (מ"א יח כז) דרך לעג:
1HATH MOCKED ME. Hetel is irregular in that it lacks a dagesh.5 should have been placed in the tav. According to I.E. hetel is a pi’el. The middle root letter of a pi’el perfect receives a dagesh, and the first root letter is vocalized with a chirik. Thus “mocked” should have been vocalized hittel. Hence hetel is irregular (Filwarg). It should have a dagesh like the word va-yehattel (and he mocked) in that Elijah mocked (va-yehattel) them (I Kings 18:27).6 is a pi’el, has a dagesh and follows the normal pi’el paradigm. The meaning of hetel is mocked.7
בעשרת מונים. מלשון "מְנֵה את העם" (ש"ב כד א) והטעם עשרה במספר, או הזכיר עשרה בעבור היותו סך חשבון,
2TEN TIMES. The word monin (times) is akin to the word meneh (number) in Go number (meneh) the people (II Sam. 24:1).8. This is either a scribal error in the text of I.E., or it indicates that the author quoted verses from memory. The meaning of our verse is: your father deceived me ten times. Or ten signifies many times.9