Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 41:19/אבן עזרא על בראשית מ״א:י״ט
אהוסיף דלות ותחת מראה אמר תאר כי זה קרוב מזה:
1[POOR AND VERY ILL-FAVORED.] In relating the dream Pharaoh added the word dallot (poor), and in place of mareh (favored) he used the term to’ar (favored) because their meanings are similar.42 (ra’ot mareh) and lean fleshed kine in his dream. In our verse Pharaoh describes them as poor and very ill-favored (ve-ra’ot to’ar me’od) and lean fleshed. I.E. says there is no discrepancy in the descriptions because adding a word or using a synonym does not change the meaning. He further expands on this point in his comments on Ex. 20:1 where he uses this argument to explain why there are two different versions of the Ten Commandments in the Pentateuch.