delay

וַיֵּֽלְכוּ אֲחֹרַנִּית (Bereishis 9:23), they went backwards. On וְאַתָּה הֲסִבֹּתָ אֶת־לִבָּם אֲחֹֽרַנִּֽית (Melachim I 18:37) Rav Saadiah reads: You have turned their heart, which until now was backward. Radak's father reads it of turning their heart back from the faith of the Baal, since they recognized that its molten image was falsehood.

טוֹב אַֽחֲרִית דָּבָר מֵרֵֽאשִׁיתוֹ (Koheles 7:8), the end of a matter is better than its beginning. Reward is called אַֽחֲרִית because it is the close of the deed: כִּי אִם־יֵשׁ אַֽחֲרִית וְתִקְוָתְךָ לֹא תִכָּרֵֽת (Mishlei 23:18), for surely there is an end, and your hope will not be cut off, and לָתֵת לָכֶם אַֽחֲרִית וְתִקְוָֽה (Yirmiyahu 29:11), to give you an end and a hope.

אַֽחֲרֵי מוֹת מֹשֶׁה (Yehoshua 1:1), after the death of Moshe. In וַיַּכֵּהוּ אַבְנֵר בְּאַֽחֲרֵי הַֽחֲנִית (Shmuel II 2:23), Avner struck him with what is behind the spear, that is, the wood of the spear. וַתַּבֵּט אִשְׁתּוֹ מֵאַֽחֲרָיו (Bereishis 19:26) means that his wife, who was behind him, looked behind her.

Men's children are called אַֽחֲרִית because they are left after them, וְאַֽחֲרִיתָם בַּחֶרֶב אֶהֱרֹג (Amos 9:1), which he says is spoken of the people; so וְלֹא לְאַֽחֲרִיתוֹ (Daniel 11:4), that he did not leave the kingship to his son. In וְאַֽחֲרִיתֵךְ בַּחֶרֶב תִּפּוֹל (Yechezkel 23:25) it is your people: the pasuk had said אַפֵּךְ וְאָזְנַיִךְ, your nose and your ears, a figure for the heads, and the head is first to the people, going out and coming in before them, while the people are the end. Targum Yonasan renders עַמִיךְ, your people.

The western side is called אָחוֹר, as וְאָחוֹר וְֽלֹא־אָבִין לֽוֹ (Iyov 23:8), and to the west, and I do not perceive Him; and the western sea is הַיָּם הָאַֽחֲרוֹן (Devarim 11:24), because the face is the east and the back the west, a man's face being toward the rising of the sun. On that same order the south is called ימין, the right, and the north שמאל, the left. And אַחֵר is another than oneself: וְאִישׁ אַחֵר יִקָּחֶֽנָּה (Devarim 20:7), and another man will take her, and בְּגָדִים אֲחֵרִים (Vayikra 6:4), other garments.

Of a man whose doings are at the end and in waiting: לַֽמְאַֽחֲרִים עַל־הַיָּיִן (Mishlei 23:30), those who stay all day until evening over the drinking of wine, as מְאַֽחֲרֵי בַנֶּשֶׁף (Yeshayahu 5:11), those who stay late into the evening; and so מְאַֽחֲרֵי ־שֶׁבֶת (Tehillim 127:2), busy at their work all day until evening. His father writes that כִּי־בֹא יָבֹא לֹא יְאַחֵֽר (Chavakuk 2:3) is not like these, but means it will not come at the end, from אַֽחֲרִית which is the end, and so Targum Yonasan renders לְאָחֽוֹר (Yeshayahu 42:23) as לְסוֹפָא, at the end.

Rabbi Yonah brought a further sense into this root for יִרְבּוּ עַצְּבוֹתָם אַחֵר מָהָרוּ (Tehillim 16:4), reading it as a prayer that the sorrows of those who hurry to strife may increase. Radak holds that wrong, since the root מהר is not found in the light form in the sense of haste, only in the sense of a marriage payment, מָהֹר יִמְהָרֶנָּה לּוֹ לְאִשָּֽׁה (Shemos 22:15). The right reading in his eyes is from the second sense, another: the sorrows of those who pay a marriage price to another god will increase, that is, they give gifts to another god and offer and pour out to it; the close of the pasuk proves it, בַּל־אַסִּיךְ נִסְכֵּיהֶם מִדָּם, I will not pour out their libations of blood.

בְּךָ בָטְחוּ וְלֹא־ בֽוֹשׁוּ (Tehillim 22:6), in You they trusted and were not ashamed; כִּי בְֹשְׁתִּי לִשְׁאוֹל מִן־הַמֶּלֶךְ (Ezra 8:22), for I was ashamed to ask of the king; and the reflexive, וְלֹא יִתְבּשָֽׁשׁוּ (Bereishis 2:25), and they were not ashamed. בּוֹשָׁה וְחָפֵרָה (Yirmiyahu 15:9), she is ashamed and disgraced, is stressed on the earlier syllable, and וּבוֹשָׁה הַֽחַמָּה (Yeshayahu 24:23), and the sun shall be ashamed, on the last. In the heavy form: וּמְשַׂנְאֵינוּ הֱבִישֽׁוֹתָ (Tehillim 44:8), and our haters You have put to shame; עֲצַת־עָנִי תָבִישׁוּ (Tehillim 14:6), you would shame the counsel of the poor; הֱבִשֹׁתָה כִּֽי־אֱלֹהִים מְאָסָֽם (Tehillim 53:6), You have put them to shame, for Hashem has rejected them; מֵבִישׁ וּמַחְפִּֽיר (Mishlei 19:26), one who shames and disgraces; and וּכְרָקָב בְּעַצְמוֹתָיו מְבִישָֽׁה (Mishlei 12:4), and she who shames is as rot in his bones.

The nouns are תְּכַסְּךָ בוּשָׁה (Ovadiah 1:10), shame shall cover you, and וּבשֶׁת פָּנַי כִּסָּֽתְנִי (Tehillim 44:16), and the shame of my face has covered me; and with a nun added, בָּשְׁנָה אֶפְרַיִם יִקָּח (Hoshea 10:6), Ephraim shall take shame. Rabbi Yonah wrote that the nun was added to disgrace the Baal, that it should be called בשנה, as in וְהַבֹּשֶׁת אָֽכְלָה אֶת־יְגִיעַ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ (Yirmiyahu 3:24), the shameful thing devoured our fathers' toil. It can also be taken at its plain sense, as the same pasuk says וְיֵבוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵֽעֲצָתֽוֹ, Yisrael will be ashamed of its counsel.

וְהֶֽחֱזִיקָה בִּמְבֻשָֽׁיו (Devarim 25:11), and she takes hold of his testicles, which are the place of shame. So עֶרְיָה־ בֹשֶׁת (Michah 1:11), nakedness of shame, is nakedness uncovered, as וַֽחֲשׂוּפַי שֵׁת (Yeshayahu 20:4), with their nakedness bared.

וַיָּחִילוּ עַד־ בֹּוֹשׁ (Shoftim 3:25), and they waited until it was late, and וַיִּפְצְרוּ־בוֹ עַד־ בֹּשׁ (Melachim II 2:17), and they pressed him until it was late; בֹשֵׁשׁ מֹשֶׁה (Shemos 32:1), Moshe was late, and מַדּוּעַ בֹּשֵׁשׁ רִכְבּוֹ לָבוֹא (Shoftim 5:28), why is his chariot late in coming. The sense is ענין איחור, lateness.