Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 4:26/אבן עזרא על בראשית ד׳:כ״ו

אודקדוק הוחל מפעלי הכפל ולולי היות החי"ת מהגרון היה נדגש והוא מגזרת תחלה והטעם שהחלו להתפלל ואילו היה מחילול היה השם סמוך אל המלה:

1[BEGAN TO CALL.] Huchal (began) belongs to those verbs whose second and third root letters are identical.⁵⁷. If the chet were not a guttural, it would receive a dagesh. Huchal comes from the same root as techil’ah (first). The meaning of the clause then began (huchal) men to call upon the name of the Lord is: then men first started praying. If huchal were derived from chillul (profane),⁵⁸ is an expression of profaneness.” then the name of the Lord would follow profane.⁵⁹ means to profane, the verse reads as follows: then was it profaned to call the name of God. An impossible sentence. If huchal means profaned, the verse should read: then was God’s name profaned.