foot

פַּעַם חוּץ פַּעַם בָּרְחֹבוֹת (Mishlei 7:12), one time outside, one time in the streets; זֹאת הַפַּעַם (Bereishis 2:23), this time; אַךְ הַפַּעַם הַזֶּה (Shoftim 16:28), only this once.

Rabbi Yonah reads לְפַעֲמוֹ (Shoftim 13:25) from that first sense; that is, prophecy began to come to him a first time. Or it is to break and crush him, from וַתִּפָּעֶם רוּחוֹ (Bereishis 41:8), his spirit was broken, and נִפְעַמְתִּי וְלֹא אֲדַבֵּר (Tehillim 77:5), I am broken and cannot speak, a language of breaking and crushing; and that, Radak says, is the right one. So too וַתִּתְפָּעֶם רוּחוֹ (Daniel 2:1), his spirit was broken.

אֶת הוֹלֶם פָּעַם (Yeshayahu 41:7) is the breaking of the blow or the blow that breaks; or פעם is the name of the tool one strikes with, the hammer, as the Targum renders it דִמְטַפַּח בְקוּרְנְסָא, one who strikes with a hammer. From the same the bell is called פעמון, since it rattles and is struck by the clapper inside it: וַיִּתְּנוּ אֶת הַפַּעֲמֹנִים בְּתוֹךְ הָרִמֹּנִים (Shemos 39:25), a bell set between one pomegranate and the next. Chazal read לְפַעֲמוֹ likewise (Sotah 9b), the spirit of prophecy ringing before him like a bell.

מַה יָּפוּ פְעָמַיִךְ (Shir HaShirim 7:2), how beautiful your feet; הָרִימָה פְעָמֶיךָ (Tehillim 74:3), lift up your steps; פַּעֲמֵי דַלִּים (Yeshayahu 26:6), the feet of the poor. Some read הָרִימָה פְעָמֶיךָ instead as מהלמותיך, your blows. From the sense of feet is explained also צֵלָע אֶל צֵלָע שָׁלוֹשׁ וּשְׁלֹשִׁים פְּעָמִים (Yechezkel 41:6), chamber against chamber, thirty-three, with פְּעָמִים as feet; Yonasan rendered it thirty-three, eleven to a row.

עַל אַרְבַּע פַּעֲמֹתָיו (Shemos 25:12), which Radak takes as its four corners.

לֹֽא־ רָגַל עַל־לְשֹׁנוֹ (Tehillim 15:3), he does not slander with his tongue, and וַיְרַגֵּל בְּעַבְדְּךָ (Shmuel II 19:28), he slandered your servant: the sense is informing and talebearing. It may be from רֶגֶל, the foot, since the talebearer is always going about and carrying words from this one to that one. Near to it is עֲלוּ וְרַגְּלוּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ (Yehoshua 7:2), go up and spy out the land, which he likens to וַיָּתֻרוּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ (Bamidbar 13:21), and they searched out the land.

רֶגֶל תַּחַת רָֽגֶל (Shemos 21:24), foot for foot; רַגְלִי עָֽמְדָה בְמִישׁוֹר (Tehillim 26:12), my foot stands on level ground; and two feet, וְרַגְלַיִם לַפִּסֵּחַ אָֽנִי (Iyov 29:15), and feet to the lame am I. In וּזְרֹֽעֹתָיו וּמַרְגְּלֹתָיו (Daniel 10:6), his arms and his feet, מַרְגְּלֹתָיו is his feet; and in וַתִּשְׁכַּב מַרְגְּלֹתָו (Rus 3:14), and she lay at his feet, it is beside his feet.

שֵׁשׁ־מֵאוֹת אֶלֶף רַגְלִי (Bamidbar 11:21), six hundred thousand on foot, meaning that they went on their feet. בָּעֵמֶק שֻׁלַּח בְּרַגְלָיו (Shoftim 5:15), into the valley he was sent on his feet, means that he did not ask for a beast to ride on, from the greatness of his running and his desire for the war; and likewise וַיֵּצֵא הַמֶּלֶךְ וְכָל־הָעָם בְּרַגְלָיו (Shmuel II 15:17), the king went out, and all the people, on foot, from the greatness of the fear and the worry. וְכָל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר־ בְּרַגְלֶיךָ (Shemos 11:8), and all the people at your feet, is those who go with you at your foot, and וּלְרֶגֶל הַיְלָדִים (Bereishis 33:14), at the foot of the children, is at their slow pace, their feet not being in a run.

וְלֹֽא־עָשָׂה רַגְלָיו (Shmuel II 19:25), and he had not done his feet, is a way of naming the hair of the nakedness, as it says וְשַׂעַר הָֽרַגְלָיִם (Yeshayahu 7:20), the hair of the feet; and likewise לְהָסֵךְ אֶת־ רַגְלָיו (Shmuel I 24:3 in his edition), to cover his feet, is a way of naming the passing of water. Targum Yonasan takes וְלֹֽא־עָשָׂה רַגְלָיו as it sounds, rendering וְלָא שְׁטַף רַגְלוֹהִי, he did not wash his feet.

Hashem blessed אֹֽתְךָ לְרַגְלִי (Bereishis 30:30), you at my foot: it is like what people say, רגל טובה לפלוני, so-and-so has a good foot. שָׁלֹשׁ רְגָלִים תָּחֹג לִי בַּשָּׁנָֽה (Shemos 23:14), three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year, and כִּי הִכִּיתָנִי זֶה שָׁלשׁ רְגָלִֽים (Bamidbar 22:28), that you have struck me these three times: both mean times, and the two are one expression.

וְאָֽנֹכִי תִרְגַּלְתִּי לְאֶפְרַיִם (Hoshea 11:3), and I accustomed Efraim, has been explained as הרגלתי, I accustomed, with a tav in place of a heh; the sense of accustoming is known from the words of Chazal (Yevamos 85b), and it is like custom. עֵין רֹגֵֽל (Melachim I 1:9) Targum Yonasan renders עֵין קַצְרָא, the launderer's spring. Radak holds that the sense of רֹגֵֽל is from רֶגֶל, the foot, because those who wash clothes rub them with their feet.