sheep and goats

כְּגֶבֶר אֵין־אֱיָל (Tehillim 88:5), "like a man without strength": אֱיָל is strength, and so אֱיָלוּתִי לְעֶזְרָתִי חוּשָׁה (Tehillim 22:20), "my strength, hasten to my help", which stands in the feminine like עזרתי, my help. Sometimes the middle root letter is quiescent: יֶשׁ־לְאֵל יָדִי (Bereishis 31:29), "it is in the power of my hand", and כִּי יֶשׁ־לְאֵל יָדָם (Michah 2:1), "for it is in the power of their hand". Another noun, on the pattern of אוֹר, is אוֹל: וּבָרִיא אוּלָם (Tehillim 73:4), their strength is sound.

As an adjective, הָאֵל (Yeshayahu 42:5) is the mighty One, and מִי־כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם (Shemos 15:11) is "who is like You among the mighty". In הָבוּ לַי"י בְּנֵי אֵלִים (Tehillim 29:1), "give to Hashem, בְּנֵי אֵלִים", they are the kings, בְּנֵי not being in smichus, like בְּנֵי שִׁלֵּשִׁים (Bereishis 50:23), third-generation children; or they are the stars, with בני in smichus, so that the stars are the sons and the angels the אלים, as in בְּרָן־יַחַד כּוֹכְבֵי בֹקֶר וַיָּרִיעוּ כָּל־בְּנֵי אֱלֹהִֽים (Iyov 38:7), "when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of Elohim shouted". And וּמִצְרַיִם אָדָם וְלֹא־אֵל (Yeshayahu 31:3), "and Mitzrayim are men and not אל", means not an angel. כְּאֵלָה נֹבֶלֶת עָלֶהָ (Yeshayahu 1:30), like a terebinth whose leaf withers, and כִּי יֵבֹשׁוּ מֵאֵילִים (Yeshayahu 1:29), for they will be shamed by the terebinths, and their like, may be of this root; he will write of them again at the root אלה.

וְאֶתְּנֵהוּ בְּיַד אֵיל גּוֹיִם (Yechezkel 31:11), "and I gave him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations", is written with a yud for the easterners, and the Mesorah notes it the only one full in a non-sacred sense; it means the mighty one of the nations, Nevuchadnetzar. So וְאֶת־אֵילֵי הָאָרֶץ לָקָח (Yechezkel 17:13), "and he took the mighty of the land", written with a yud, while יְדַבְּרוּ־לוֹ אֵלֵי גִבּוֹרִים (Yechezkel 32:21), "the mighty among the warriors shall speak to him", is without a yud, and the Mesorah notes it the only one lacking.

Rabbi Yehudah wrote that the adjective is written with a yud at אֵלֵי גִבּוֹרִים. Radak suggests the copyist may have erred and left words out: perhaps Rabbi Yehudah wrote it of אֵיל גּוֹיִם, then listed אֵילֵי הָאָרֶץ and אֵלֵי גִבּוֹרִים without marking which is full and which lacking. Radak adds that such a man deserves to be judged favourably in every way we can, since he lit the eyes of all who came after him in grammar and the language of Mikra; and although some books have אילי גבורים with a yud, we rely on the Mesorah in the books, where we found it lacking.

וְקֹרָא לָהֶם אֵילֵי הַצֶּדֶק (Yeshayahu 61:3), "and they shall be called the mighty of righteousness"; or אֵלֵי there is from אלה and אלים, trees, since the pasuk says מַטַּע י"י לְהִתְפָּאֵר, "the planting of Hashem, to be glorified".

אַיָּל וּצְבִי (Devarim 14:5), "hart and gazelle", אַיָּלָה שְׁלֻחָה (Bereishis 49:21), "a hind let loose", and גַּם־אַיֶּלֶת בַּשָּׂדֶה (Yirmiyahu 14:5), "even the hind in the field". In כְּאַיָּל תַּעֲרֹג עַל־אֲפִיקֵי־מָיִם (Tehillim 42:2), "as the hart longs for brooks of water", the verb comes in the feminine because אַיָּל is a general name covering male and female, like וַיְהִי־לִי שׁוֹר וַחֲמוֹר (Bereishis 32:6), "and I have oxen and donkeys"; the feminine means the herd of harts, for they go together in many droves.

אַיֶּלֶת הַשַּׁחַר (Tehillim 22:1), the hind of the dawn, is the morning star. Some explain it from the first sense, the strength of the dawn's rising. Radak holds the right reading is that it is a mashal for Knesses Yisrael, as Shir HaShirim likens them to hinds, and the dawn likewise, מִי־זֹאת הַנִּשְׁקָפָה כְּמוֹ־שָׁחַר (Shir HaShirim 6:10), "who is she that looks forth like the dawn"; the whole mizmor is about Knesses Yisrael in their galus.

אַיִל תָּמִים מִן־הַצֹּאן (Vayikra 5:15), "an unblemished ram from the flock": a lamb older than a year is called איל. In וּמֵאָה אֶלֶף אֵילִים צָמֶר (Melachim II 3:4), "and a hundred thousand rams, wool", the construct is lacking: אֵילִים means אלי צמר, rams of wool, that is, rams in their wool that had not been shorn.

אֵיל פָּארָן (Bereishis 14:6), the plain of Paran, עִם־אֵלוֹן מֻצָּב אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁכֶם (Shoftim 9:6), by the plain of the thing set up in Shechem, and בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא (Bereishis 18:1), in the plains of Mamre, are as the Targum has them, מֵשְׁרֵי, a plain. אֵלוֹן מֻצָּב means that in that plain stood something set up, a stone or the like, and the plain was called after it so that the place could be known.

הָאַיִל מְזוּזוֹת חֲמִשִׁית (Melachim I 6:31), the אַיִל, doorposts, a fifth, וְאֶל־אַיִל תִּמֹרִים (Yechezkel 40:16), and on the post palm trees, and וּמִדָּה אַחַת לָאֵילִם מִפֹּה וּמִפּוֹ (Yechezkel 40:10), "and one measure for the posts on this side and that": their sense is doorposts. וְאֵלַמָּיו (Yechezkel 40:29), and its arches: their sense is a vault.

וַיִּשְׁלַח יְהוּדָה אֶת־גְּדִי הָעִזִּים (Bereishis 38:20), "and Yehudah sent the kid of the goats": the young is called גדי whether of goats or of sheep, since the pasuk attaches גדי to עזים, so it seems there is a גדי that is not of goats.

Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra explained that nothing is called גדי except of the goats, and that גדי עזים means a young one that still needs the goats, and so שְׂעִיר־עִזִּים (Bamidbar 7:16), a he-goat of the goats; and he said that in Arabic too it is called גדי.

אֶחָד נֹשֵׂא שְׁלֹשָׁה גְדָיִים (Shmuel I 10:3), "one carrying three kids", and שְׁנֵי גְּדָיֵי עִזִּים (Bereishis 27:9), "two kids of the goats"; in the feminine, וּרְעִי אֶת־גְּדִיֹּתַיִךְ (Shir HaShirim 1:8), "and pasture your kids".

לֹא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ (Shemos 34:26), "do not cook a kid in its mother's milk": the same law holds for the flesh of any animal, and the pasuk spoke of what is usual and what people customarily ate, since they ate kids more than lambs, as Scripture shows throughout. It spoke of the young of the animal because it is not the way to cook a grown animal's flesh in milk, milk cooking quickly and flesh not, unless it is the flesh of the young, which are quick to cook.

Goats' milk is the most plentiful, and the pasuk spoke of what is common, as וְדֵי חֲלֵב עִזִּים (Mishlei 27:26 in his edition), "and enough goats' milk". So too our Rabbis spoke of what is found most, saying a goat is for its milk (Shabbos 19b), and what my goats give in milk I sell you (Bava Metzia 64a).

So too וְאֵת בַּת הַיַּעֲנָה (Vayikra 11:16), "and the daughter of the ostrich": the same law holds for the ostrich itself, and the pasuk speaks of what is usual, since it is the world's custom to eat it only while young and tender, its flesh being very hard when grown and unfit to eat. The young female's flesh is softer than the male's, so the pasuk says בת.

Our Rabbis expounded (Chullin 113a) that it says בחלב אמו, in its mother's milk, of one that has a mother's milk, since fowl in milk is forbidden not by the Torah but by the words of the Soferim.

Another sense: מָלֵא עַל־כָּל־גְּדוֹתָיו (Yehoshua 3:15), "full over all its banks", and וְהָלַךְ עַל־כָּל־גְּדוֹתָיו (Yeshayahu 8:7), "and it shall go over all its banks", meaning over all its edges on this side and that. Rabbi Yaakov ben Elazar wrote that in אֲשֶׁר בְּתוֹךְ־הַנַּחַל הַגָּד (Shmuel II 24:5), which is in the midst of the stream, the גָּד, the word הַגָּד is one of the stream's banks; and Targum Yonasan rendered it, in the midst of the stream of the tribe of Gad.

נָקֹד וְטָלוּא בָּֽעִזִּים (Bereishis 30:33), speckled and spotted among the goats, and הָֽעֲקֻדִּים וְהַטְּלֻאִים (Bereishis 30:35), the streaked and the spotted. טָלוּא marks the large spots, while נָקֹד marks the small ones, dots upon dots; the spotted one is the one whose spots are broad.

וּנְעָלוֹת בָּלוֹת וּמְטֻלָּאוֹת (Yehoshua 9:5), worn and patched shoes: mended with pieces of leather set on where they wore through. Likewise Chachamim say of a piece of leather טלאי על גבי טלאי, patch upon patch (Shabbos 114a), and of a piece of cloth מטלית, a rag (Niddah 56a). So too spots of colour look like pieces upon pieces: וַתַּֽעֲשִׂי־לָךְ בָּמוֹת טְלֻאוֹת (Yechezkel 16:16), and you made yourself high places טְלֻאוֹת, which he explains as garments of many colours.

It may be that זְאֵב וְטָלֶה (Yeshayahu 65:25), wolf and lamb, and טְלֵה חָלָב אֶחָד (Shmuel I 7:9), one suckling lamb, are of this root, though written with a heh, since the plural is found with an alef: בִּזְרֹעוֹ יְקַבֵּץ טְלָאִים (Yeshayahu 40:11), He gathers lambs in His arm. By rule the lamed of טְלָאִים should carry a tzeirei, as in the other words ending in alef, צָמֵא צְמֵאִים, thirsty, and טָמֵא טְמֵאִים, unclean; it carries a kamatz instead, as נְכָאִֽים (Yeshayahu 16:7), the stricken, does, from נְכֵה רַגְלָיִם (Shmuel II 4:4), stricken in the feet. טְלֵה חָלָב he explains as one still sucking milk that had not yet eaten grass, and that is the choicest.

One might say the root is טָלָה, ending in heh, and that the alef of טְלָאִים replaces a yud, as the alef does in וְעַמִּי תְלוּאִים (Hoshea 11:7), and My people are hung; he calls that far-fetched. The root with alef is found in many words and with heh is not found, and טְלָאִים is not formed as the plural of a root ending in heh, which would have given טָלִים, lambs, as קָנֶה, a reed, gives קָנִים, reeds.

וַֽיִּפְקְדֵם בַּטְּלָאִים (Shmuel I 15:4), he counted them by the lambs. Chachamim (Yoma 22b) explained the word as a place name; the right reading, he holds, is the plain one, from טָלֶה, a lamb: their number was known by each man's bringing a lamb, the season being Pesach. So Targum Yonasan renders it בְּאִימְרֵי פִסְחַיָא, with the Pesach lambs.

מִי יֹבִלֵנִי עִיר מָצוֹר (Tehillim 60:11), who will bring me to the fortified city, and יוּבַל שַׁי (Yeshayahu 18:7), a gift will be brought: the sense is bringing. The Targum renders bringing with this root: for וַיָּבֵא אוֹתָם אֵלָיו בָּבֶלָה (Yechezkel 17:12), and he brought them to him to Bavel, it has וְאוֹבִיל יַתְהוֹן לְוָתֵה לְבָבֶל, the same words in Aramaic; and for וְהוֹלֵךְ מְהֵרָה (Bamidbar 17:11), and bring it quickly, וְאוֹבִיל בִּפְרִיעַ, and bring quickly.

וְעַל יוּבַל יְשַׁלַּח שָׁרָשָׁיו (Yirmiyahu 17:8), and it sends out its roots by a יוּבַל, which is a stream of water; and so פְּלָגִים יִבְלֵי מָיִם (Yeshayahu 30:25), streams, יִבְלֵי of water, where it says streams first and then explains that they are streams of water. So too וַאֲנִי הָיִיתִי עַל אוּבַל אוּלָי (Daniel 8:2), and I was by the stream of Ulai, the alef in place of the yud.

וְנָתְנָה הָאָרֶץ יְבוּלָהּ (Vayikra 26:4), the land shall give its produce, and וְאֵין יְבוּל בַּגְּפָנִים (Chavakuk 3:17), and there is no produce on the vines; and without the yud, לְבוּל עֵץ אֶסְגּֽוֹד (Yeshayahu 44:19), shall I bow down to a branch, for so he explains לבול עץ, and בוּל הָרִים יִשְׂאוּ־לוֹ (Iyov 40:20), the mountains bear him produce. Their sense, he says, is crops and fruit and all that comes out of the land. In יִגֶל יְבוּל בֵּיתוֹ (Iyov 20:28), the produce of his house will be carried away, יְבוּל is the produce of his house. Some explain it as the beams of his house, since the pasuk goes on נִגָּרוֹת בְּיוֹם אַפּֽוֹ, poured away on the day of his anger. On that reading the stones of his house will pour down and his resting place be ruined, in the way of וְהִגַּרְתִּי לַגַּי אֲבָנֶיהָ (Michah 1:6), and I will pour her stones down into the valley.

For שׁוֹפְרוֹת הַיּוֹבְלִים (Yehoshua 6:8), the shofros of the יובלים, the Targum has שׁוֹפָרַיָא דְקֶרֶן דִכְרַיָא, shofros of rams' horn. Chazal (Rosh Hashanah 26a) ask what shows that this יובל is the word for a ram, and answer from a braisa: Rabbi Akiva said, when I went to Arabia they called a ram יובלא. The shofar itself is called יובל because it is of a ram, and so the fiftieth year is called יובל because a ram's shofar was blown in it: יוֹבֵל הִוא תִּהְיֶה לָכֶם (Vayikra 25:10), it shall be a yovel for you.

אוֹ חָרוּץ אוֹ יַבֶּלֶת (Vayikra 22:22), or cut, or with a wart. The Mishnah (Eruvin 10:13) has חותכין יבלת במקדש אבל לא במדינה, a wart is cut off in the Mikdash but not in the country. But the יבלת written in the Torah describes an animal that has one, as חרוץ is a description, while the one written in the Mishnah is the name of the wart itself.

כֶּֽבֶשׂ־אֶחָד בֶּן־שְׁנָתוֹ (Bamidbar 7:15), one lamb in its first year, and כְּבָשִׂים בְּנֵֽי־שָׁנָה (Bamidbar 7:17), lambs in their first year. The female is וְכַבְשָׂה אַחַת בַּת־שְׁנָתָהּ (Bamidbar 6:14), and one ewe lamb in its first year, with patach under the kaf, and כִּי אִם־כִּבְשָׂה אַחַת קְטַנָּה (Shmuel II 12:3), but one little ewe lamb, with chirik; its plural is שֶׁבַע כִּבְשׂת הַצֹּאן לְבַדְּהֶֽן (Bereishis 21:28), seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

It is called a כבש while it is within its first year, because one older than a year is called אַיִל, a ram.

וְכָֽבְשׁוּ אַבְנֵי־קֶלַע (Zecharyah 9:15), and they shall subdue the slingstones: Rabbi Yonah reads it as their subduing their enemies with slingstones. It can also be read that they subdue the men of the slingstones, that is, the slingers will be captured, so that they do not save them.

In another sense, וְכֶבֶשׁ בַּזָּהָב לַכִּסֵּא מָֽאֳחָזִים (Divrei HaYamim II 9:18), and a כֶּבֶשׁ of gold for the throne, fastened: כֶּבֶשׁ is a step, as in the Mishnah (Zevachim 5:2), עלה בכבש, he went up on the kevesh. It is not made of steps of stone or wood one above another, but is a single sloping rise going up from the ground to the place one climbs to. That is why the mizbe'ach was given a kevesh, steps being forbidden to it, as it says וְלֹא־תַֽעֲלֶה בְמַֽעֲלֹת (Shemos 20:23), do not go up by steps. The throne's kevesh stood before its steps, near the ground, and from it one went up to the steps; מָֽאֳחָזִים goes back to the steps, which were fastened to the throne.

In another sense, פִּיחַ כִּבְשָׁן (Shemos 9:8), soot of the kiln, and כְּעֶשֶׁן הַכִּבְשָׁן (Shemos 19:18), like the smoke of the kiln. The כִּבְשָׁן is where stones are burnt for lime; or, what earthenware is fired in is called כִּבְשָׁן, and what bread is baked in by sticking it on is called תנור, an oven.

אִם־כֶּשֶׂב הוּא־מַקְרִיב (Vayikra 3:7), "if he brings a lamb", and וְהַכְּשָׂבִים הִפְרִיד יַעֲקֹב (Bereishis 30:40), "and Yaakov separated the lambs": it is known that כשב is like כבש reversed, and the two are one.

While it is a year old it is called כשב and כבש; older than a year it is called אַיִל, a ram.

כְּמֶלֶךְ עָתִיד לַכִּידוֹר (Iyov 15:24), like a king made ready for the onslaught, and עֲתִידִים (Esther 8:13), that the Jews be ready; הָעֲתִידִים עֹרֵר לִוְיָתָן (Iyov 3:8), those who are ready to rouse their mourning. Of what is made ready to come: וְחָשׁ עֲתִדֹת לָמוֹ (Devarim 32:35), and what is ready for them hastens, which is what is prepared to come upon them of punishment.

עֲתוּדוֹתֵיהֶם (Yeshayahu 10:13) is what is made ready for them of treasure and things desired; or it may mean their borders, since the same pasuk says וְאָסִיר גְּבוּלֹת עַמִּים, I have removed the bounds of peoples, a border and a set time being near to one another in sense.

וְעַתְּדָהּ בַּשָּׂדֶה לָךְ (Mishlei 24:27), and make it ready for yourself in the field, where the heh with a mapik points back to the work just named: understand and make ready your work in the field, and afterwards build your house. And הִתְעַתְּדוּ לְגַלִּים (Iyov 15:28), which are ready for ruin and to become heaps.

הָעֲתֻדִים הָעֹלִים עַל הַצֹּאן (Bereishis 31:10), the he-goats that mounted the flock, are known: they are the males of the goats, called תְּיָשִׁים as well, the grown ones called עַתּוּדִים and תְּיָשִׁים and the young ones שְׂעִירִים.

The nobles and the great men are called by this word by way of borrowing: כָּל־עַתּוּדֵי אָרֶץ (Yeshayahu 14:9), all the he-goats of the earth, since they go before the people and lead them as the he-goats go before the flock.

Sometimes it takes in both together (Vayikra 3:6); sometimes one of them alone, as at Shmuel I 25:2, where it is the sheep, the goats being counted beside them; sometimes only the females (Bereishis 30:39), and likewise at Bereishis 31:10, of the he-goats that mount the flock; and sometimes the small livestock and the cattle together, as at Shmuel I 8:17, where the parsha names no cattle.

It is a name for all of them together and is not found in the plural: וּשְׁתֵּי־ צֹֽאן (Yeshayahu 7:21), and two of the flock, וְאַרְבַּע ־צֹאן (Shemos 21:37), and four of the flock, and וּמֵאָה צֹאן (Melachim I 5:3), and a hundred of the flock.

The word is written with an alef and read as a vav: צֹאן אֹֽבְדוֹת הָיֻה [הָיוּ] עַמִּי (Yirmiyahu 50:6), my people have been lost sheep. It appears without the alef, and with a heh added, in צֹנֶה וַֽאֲלָפִים כֻּלָּם (Tehillim 8:8), sheep and oxen, all of them; and that heh turned into an alef is seen in וּגְדֵרֹת לְצֹנַֽאֲכֶם (Bamidbar 32:24), and pens for your sheep.

וּכְרָחֵל לִפְנֵי גֹזְזֶיהָ נֶאֱלָמָה (Yeshayahu 53:7), "and as a ewe before her shearers is dumb", and רְחֵלִים מָאתַיִם (Bereishis 32:15), "two hundred ewes": he glosses them כבשות, female sheep, and says no more.

לֹא שְׂעָרוּם אֲבֹתֵיכֶם (Devarim 32:17), your fathers did not dread them: that is, they did not fear them and did not serve them. The noun is בְּסוּפָה וּבִשְׂעָרָה דַּרְכּוֹ (Nachum 1:3), His way is in whirlwind and in storm.

שְׂעִיר עִזִּים (Bamidbar 7:16), a he-goat, is known. וּשְׂעִירִים יְרַקְּדוּ שָׁם (Yeshayahu 13:21), and שעירים will dance there, and לַשְּׂעִירִם אֲשֶׁר הֵם זֹנִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם (Vayikra 17:7), to the שעירים after whom they stray, are the demons; they are called so because they appear in the likeness of goats to those who believe in them.

כִּשְׂעִירִם עֲלֵי דֶשֶׁא (Devarim 32:2), like שעירים upon the grass: the fine rain is called so.

לַשֵּׂעָר הַצָּהֹב (Vayikra 13:36), for the yellow hair; שַׂעְרֵךְ כְּעֵדֶר הָעִזִּים (Shir HaShirim 4:1), your hair is like a flock of goats, that is, like the hair of a flock of goats; הֵן עֵשָׂו אָחִי אִישׁ שָׂעִר (Bereishis 27:11), Esav my brother is a hairy man; and וְהַפִּשְׁתָּה וְהַשְּׂעֹרָה (Shemos 9:31), the flax and the barley. These last two, he says, are known.

כְּמֽוֹ־ שָׁעַר בְּנַפְשׁוֹ כֶּן־הוּא (Mishlei 23:7), as he reckons in his soul so is he, on the pattern פָּעַל; the noun is שַׁעַר, accented on its first syllable, and in the plural מֵאָה שְׁעָרִים (Bereishis 26:12), a hundred measures; the sense is measure and estimate, and is known. Some take שַֽׁעֲרֽוּרִיָּה in בְּבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל רָאִיתִי (Hoshea 6:10), in the house of Yisrael I have seen a שַֽׁעֲרֽוּרִיָּה, from this sense, so that the pasuk says: what I reckoned of them I saw in them.

Another sense: שַׁמָּה וְשַֽׁעֲרוּרָה (Yirmiyahu 5:30), an astonishment and a שַֽׁעֲרוּרָה, and רָאִיתִי שַֽׁעֲרוּרָה (Yirmiyahu 23:14), I have seen a שַֽׁעֲרוּרָה; and with the yud of relation, ראיתי שַֽׁעֲרוּרִיָּה (Hoshea 6:10), I have seen a שַֽׁעֲרוּרִיָּה, so that Radak files under this sense the word some take as reckoning; and in another form שַֽׁעֲרֻרִת עָֽשְׂתָה מְאֹד (Yirmiyahu 18:13), she has done a שַֽׁעֲרֻרִת exceedingly. Then כַּתְּאֵנִים הַשֹּׁעָרִים (Yirmiyahu 29:17), like the foul figs, an adjective, whose sense is filth and foulness. Whether that sense is given for the whole run or for this last word alone, his text does not mark.

שַׁעַר הַשָּׁמָֽיִם (Bereishis 28:17), the gate of heaven, and the verb from it, שֹׁעֵר הָעִיר (Melachim II 7:10), the gatekeeper of the city. A whole land is called by its gate, after its entrance, as וְיִרַשׁ זַֽרְעֲךָ אֵת שַׁעַר אֹֽיְבָֽיו (Bereishis 22:17), your seed shall possess the gate of its enemies: a strong and fortified land is strong at its entrance, having mountains or seas about it, and once enemies have come in and passed those gates the whole land is taken before them. So פָּתוֹחַ נִפְתְּחוּ שַֽׁעֲרֵי אַרְצֵךְ (Nachum 3:13), the gates of your land are thrown wide open, and וְהֵצַר לְךָ בְּכָל־ שְׁעָרֶיךָ (Devarim 28:52), he will press you in all your gates.

זַרְזִיר מָתְנַיִם אוֹ־ תָיִשׁ (Mishlei 30:31), the one girt in the loins and a he-goat: the או stands here in place of the vav that joins, "and"; or או may be in its plain sense, this one or that one, each of them doing well in stride and in walk.

וּתְיָשִׁים עֶשְׂרִים (Bereishis 32:15), and twenty he-goats: the word is known.