paths

יְפַלֵּס נָתִיב לְאַפּוֹ (Tehillim 78:50), He levelled a path for His anger; נָתִיב לֹֽא־יְדָעוֹ עָיִט (Iyov 28:7), a path the bird of prey has not known; הַדְרִיכֵנִי בִּנְתִיב מִצְוֹתֶיךָ (Tehillim 119:35), lead me in the path of Your mitzvos.

וְדֶרֶךְ נְתִיבָה אַל־מָֽוֶת (Mishlei 12:28), and the way of her path is no death, where the heh is weak though it should have carried a mappik. With the feminine heh: וּבְמַיִם עַזִּים נְתִיבָֽה (Yeshayahu 43:16), a path in mighty waters, and מְנַע רַגְלְךָ מִנְּתִֽיבָתָֽם (Mishlei 1:15), keep your foot from their path. The plural is בִּנְתִיבוֹת לֹא־יָדְעוּ אַדְרִיכֵם (Yeshayahu 42:16), in paths they have not known I shall lead them. Its sense is as a way.

Rabbi Yonah set down under this root several different senses: one for סֹלּוּ סֹלּוּ הַֽמְסִלָּה (Yeshayahu 62:10), clear, clear the highway; another for סֹלּוּ לָרֹכֵב בָּֽעֲרָבוֹת (Tehillim 68:5), extol Him who rides in the plains, and עֽוֹדְךָ מִסְתּוֹלֵל (Shemos 9:17), you still exalt yourself; and another for the mesillos of the house of Hashem (Divrei HaYamim II 9:11). Radak holds that they are all one sense, that of raising and lifting high.

On his own reading, סֹלּוּ סֹלּוּ הַֽמְסִלָּה is lift the stones and the stumbling blocks out of the way; and because it is usual to clear the stones and lift the obstacles from a road, the road itself came to be called מְסִלָּה. So דֶּרֶךְ לֹא סְלוּלָֽה (Yirmiyahu 18:15), a way not cleared, is one whose obstacles have not been lifted from it.

Radak's father explains מְסִלָּה as a road raised with stones laid into it, and brings סַקְּלוּ מֵאֶבֶן (Yeshayahu 62:10) with it, the sense being that they built the road of strong stones. On his father's reading, so too it says וּמְסִלֹּתַי יְרֻמֽוּן (Yeshayahu 49:11), and My highways shall be raised, and in the same way סֹלּוּ סֹלּוּ is that they should raise the highway.

The timber on which stones are lifted and thrown into a city is called סֹלְלָה: כִּרְתוּ עֵצָה וְשִׁפְכוּ עַל־יְרֽוּשָׁלַם סֹֽלְלָה (Yirmiyahu 6:6), cut down her trees and pour out a siege work against Yerushalayim, and הַסֹּֽלְלוֹת בָּאוּ הָעִיר לְלָכְדָהּ (Yirmiyahu 32:24), the siege works have reached the city to take it. Yonasan renders וְצָבְרִין מִלֵיתָא, and they heap up a mound, מליתא being a heap of earth in the words of Chazal (Bava Basra 54a), and every סֹלְלָה he renders so. At הַנְּתֻצִים אֶל־הַסֹּֽלְלוֹת (Yirmiyahu 33:4), the houses torn down for the mounds, he renders that they tear them down and heap up mounds to strengthen the wall against those who kill with the sword. Radak explains that the townsmen would pull down the houses and make heaps of the stones against the wall from within to strengthen it, and says Yonasan's explanation is correct. Of the same matter is וַיִּצְבֹּר עָפָר וַיִּלְכְּדָֽהּ (Chavakuk 1:10), he heaped up earth and took it.

סֹלּוּ לָרֹכֵב בָּֽעֲרָבוֹת, extol Him who rides in the plains, is exalt Him and magnify Him, and so מְסִלּוֹת בִּלְבָבָֽם (Tehillim 84:6), exaltations in their heart. So too the four-letter word with its first root letter doubled, סַלְסְלֶ֥הָ וּתְרֽוֹמְמֶ֑ךָּ (Mishlei 4:8), exalt her and she will raise you, and מִסְתּוֹלֵל בְּעַמִּי (Shemos 9:17), exalting yourself over My people, that is, lifting himself up over them and taking pride against them so as not to send them out.

The mesillos of the house of Hashem (Divrei HaYamim II 9:11) can be read as ceilings, called so for their height, or as steps, called so because they are like a road that men tread always. But since Melachim has מסעד, a support, for the house of Hashem where this has מְסִלּוֹת, Radak explains מסילות in the sense of a support: the ceiling, as he said, being a support too, or else some other structure, like pillars, made for support and strength.

Another sense altogether is סִלּוֹן מַמְאִיר (Yechezkel 28:24), a pricking thorn, and כִּי סָֽרָבִים וְסַלּוֹנִים (Yechezkel 2:6), for briers and thorns, whose sense is like a thorn.

Radak says at the outset that וַיָּסֹלּוּ may be another sense, though Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Yonah brought it under this root. Radak himself counts it as the simple verb of the thorn sense, and so wrote the sage Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra, Rabbi Yehudah ben Balaam, and Radak's father. The two pesukim are וַיָּסֹלּוּ עָלַי דַּרְכָּם (Iyov 19:12), their way against me, and וַיָּסֹלּוּ עָלַי אָרְחוֹת אֵידָֽם (Iyov 30:12), against me the paths of their ruin; Radak does not say what the verb means in either.

עָגֹל סָבִיב (Melachim I 7:35), round about, and מְרֻבָּעוֹת לֹא עֲגֻלּוֹת (Melachim I 7:31), square and not round.

The noun is וְשָׁאוּל שֹׁכֵב בַּמַּעְגָּל (Shmuel I 26:5), and Shaul lay in the מַעְגָּל, which is the place of the camp; with a heh added, וַיָּבֹא הַמַּעְגָּלָה (Shmuel I 17:20), and he came to the camp. It is called so because in a camp they encamp around, in a ring. In יָשָׁר מַעְגַּל צַדִּיק תְּפַלֵּס (Yeshayahu 26:7), You level the straight way of the righteous, and the plural בְמַעְגְּלֵי צֶדֶק (Tehillim 23:3), in ways of righteousness, the sense is the way and the highway.

עָגִיל is an ear ornament: טַבַּעַת עָגִיל (Bamidbar 31:50), ring, earring, and so וַעֲגִילִים עַל אָזְנָיִךְ (Yechezkel 16:12), and earrings on your ears. עֵגֶל בֶּן בָּקָר (Vayikra 9:2), a calf of the herd. עֶגְלָה מְשֻׁלֶּשֶׁת (Bereishis 15:9), a heifer, threefold, is three heifers; it cannot mean one three years old, since at three years she would be called a פרה, a cow. עֲגָלָה חֲדָשָׁה (Shmuel I 6:7), a new wagon: the wagon is called so because it is round.

רָחַב פִּי עַל־אוֹיְבַי (Shmuel I 2:1), my mouth is opened wide over my enemies. On וּפָחַד וְרָחַב לְבָבֵךְ (Yeshayahu 60:5), your heart shall fear and grow broad, Radak explains that they will fear the honoured Name when they see the abundance of good, as at Hoshea 3:5, where they come trembling to Hashem and to His goodness; and broad after the troubles they were in at first, for now the heart will be broad and glad.

וְרֹחַב לֵב כַּחוֹל (Melachim I 5:9), breadth of heart like the sand, means that in everything needing understanding he had a broad heart. Radak argues that כַּחוֹל, like the sand, does not describe the breadth of heart itself, since what describes breadth is a measure and not a number, as in וּרְחָבָה מִנִּי־יָֽם (Iyov 11:9), broader than the sea. Rather the sand describes all the things that need understanding, which are as the sand on the seashore, and Shlomo had breadth of heart for them all. So too לִתְבוּנָתוֹ אֵין מִסְפָּֽר (Tehillim 147:5), of His understanding there is no number, means that the things He understands are without number, since what describes understanding itself is searching, as in אֵין חֵקֶר לִתְבוּנָתֽוֹ (Yeshayahu 40:28), His understanding is past searching.

וְחָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת רֹחַב (Shemos 27:1), five amos broad; לְאָרְכָּהּ וּלְרָחְבָּהּ (Bereishis 13:17), to its length and to its breadth. וְאֶתְהַלְּכָה בָרְחָבָה (Tehillim 119:45), I shall walk in a wide place, is a name for the broad ground; כִּי בָֽרְחוֹב נָלִֽין (Bereishis 19:2), we shall spend the night in the square; the plural, in the feminine form, בְּתוֹךְ רְחֹבוֹת אֵֽרָצֵֽחַ (Mishlei 22:13), I shall be slain in the streets; and וַיּוֹצִיאֵנִי לַמֶּרְחָב (Tehillim 18:20), He brought me out to open ground.

וּרְחַב יָדָיִם (Tehillim 104:25), broad of hands; רְחַב ־נֶפֶשׁ יְגָרֶה מָדוֹן (Mishlei 28:25), the broad of soul stirs up strife; for the feminine רְחָבָה מִצְוָתְךָ מְאֹֽד (Tehillim 119:96), Your mitzvah is exceedingly broad, and וְהָאָרֶץ רַֽחֲבַת יָדַיִם (Divrei HaYamim I 4:40), the land was broad of hands.

הִרְחִיבָה שְּׁאוֹל נַפְשָׁהּ (Yeshayahu 5:14), she'ol has widened her appetite; בַּצָּר הִרְחַבְתָּ לִּי (Tehillim 4:2), in straits You gave me room; הַרְחֶב ־פִּיךָ וַֽאֲמַלְאֵֽהוּ (Tehillim 81:11), open your mouth wide and I shall fill it.

צָרוֹת לְבָבִי הִרְחִיבוּ (Tehillim 25:17), the troubles of my heart have widened, is also a verb that takes an object: the troubles of my heart have widened their place and border within my heart by their number, pressing on my heart and widening their place and border in it. Radak notes that the pasuk speaks with elegance here, joining two words in one matter, the one being the opposite of the other.

שְׁבִילֵי עוֹלָם (Yirmiyahu 18:15), the ancient ways, and וּשְׁבִילְךָ בְּמַיִם רַבִּים (Tehillim 77:20), Your way in the great waters: it is the way.

From it the leg, or the shin, is called שֹׁבֶל: חֶשְׂפִּי שֹׁבֶל (Yeshayahu 47:2), bare the leg, as the pasuk goes on גַּלִּי שׁוֹק עִבְרִי נְהָרוֹת, uncover the shin, cross rivers. The Midrash Chazis explains it from שבולת, the current of the river: חשפי שובל is קלופי שבלתא דנהרא, strip off the current of the river. Rabbi Yonah wrote it from the ear of grain, uncover the locks of your hair, by way of likeness.

וָאֲלַקֳטָה בַשִּׁבֳּלִים (Rus 2:2), let me glean among the ears of grain, whose sense is known. The rush of water, the place where water runs down with force, is called שִׁבֹּלֶת as well: אַל תִּשְׁטְפֵנִי שִׁבֹּלֶת מַיִם (Tehillim 69:16), let not the rush of water sweep me away. That is why the test was אֱמָר נָא שִׁבֹּלֶת וַיֹּאמֶר סִבֹּלֶת (Shoftim 12:6), say now shibboles, and he said sibboles: at that place there was a rush of water, running there with force, and they tried a man by what was there where they stood.

שַׁבְּלוּל תֶּמֶס יַהֲלֹךְ (Tehillim 58:9), a snail that melts as it goes: it is a creeping thing, the snail. Chazal say (Shabbos 77b) that of all the Holy One created in His world He created nothing for nothing, and He created the snail for the כתית, a wound. This means that the snail is crushed and laid on the wound, and it is a remedy for it. The כתית is the wound called סמיטא in the language of Chazal (Avodah Zarah 28a), and it is known.

מִי מָדַד בְּשָׁעֳלוֹ מַיִם (Yeshayahu 40:12), who measured the waters by his fistful. In another pattern לִשְׁעָלִים לְכָל הָעָם (Melachim I 20:10), fistfuls for all the people, and בְּשַׁעֲלֵי שְׂעֹרִים (Yechezkel 13:19), for fistfuls of barley. Their sense is like a fist, that is, a fistful.

בְּמִשְׁעוֹל הַכְּרָמִים (Bamidbar 22:24), in the path of the vineyards, is a path. From the sense of this root the vineyard path is called משעול, because it is a narrow road with no more width to it than the measure a man needs to walk along it.

From this sense Targum Yonasan renders לִשְׁעָלִים לְכָל הָעָם אֲשֶׁר בְּרַגְלָי, fistfuls for all the people at my feet, as לְמֵיסַב בִּשְׁעוֹלֵי פַרְסַת רִגְלֵי עַמָא דְעִמִי, to take up in the hollows of the soles of the feet of the people who are with me. Radak explains this as the dust that clings to the soles of their feet.

אִם־יַֽעֲלֶה שׁוּעָל וּפָרַץ (Nechemiah 3:35), if a fox goes up he will breach it, and שֽׁוּעָלִים קְטַנִּים (Shir HaShirim 2:15), little foxes. Radak says the animal is known, and gives it no further gloss.