synonyms

כֹּה אָמַר (Shemos 11:4), thus said Hashem, and אַתָּה אֹמֵר אֵלַי (Shemos 33:12), you say to me. וְלֶחֶם אָמַר לוֹ (Melachim I 11:18), and bread he said to him, means he said to give him bread. הֶאָמוּר בֵּֽית־יַֽעֲקֹב (Michah 2:7), the one called the house of Yaakov, is that they would say house of Yaakov to him and call him so; and אֲשֶׁר יֹאמְרֻךָ לִמְזִמָּה (Tehillim 139:20), who speak of You for scheming, is that they say to one another and speak about You. The nouns are אֵין אֹמֶר וְאֵין דְּבָרִים (Tehillim 19:4), there is no speech and there are no words, and אֲמָרַי הַֽאֲזִינָה (Tehillim 5:2), give ear to my words, and with an added mem, וְאֶת־ מַֽאֲמַר מָרְדֳּכַי (Esther 2:20), the word of Mordechai; and in another form, הַשֹּׁלֵחַ אִמְרָתוֹ אָרֶץ (Tehillim 147:15), who sends His word to the earth. Their sense, he says, is known.

In the words אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹֽר (Shemos 6:10), to Moshe, saying, the saying means to say it to Yisrael. But אֶמֶשׁ אָמַר אֵלַי לֵאמֹר (Bereishis 31:29), last night he said to me, saying, is the infinitive doubled upon the verb to strengthen the matter, and the more so where it comes after; and so אֹֽמְרִים אָמוֹר לִמְנַֽאֲצַי (Yirmiyahu 23:17), they keep saying to those who despise Me.

הַֽלְהָרְגֵנִי אַתָּה אֹמֵר (Shemos 2:14), are you saying to kill me, that is, are you thinking of it; and וַיֹּאמֶר לְהַכּוֹת אֶת־דָּוִֽד (Shmuel II 21:16), and he said to strike David, is that he purposed to kill him. So too הָאֹֽמְרָה בִּלְבָבָהּ (Yeshayahu 47:8), she that says in her heart, and אָמַרְתִּי אֲנִי בְּלִבִּי (Koheles 2:1), I said in my heart.

בְּרֹאשׁ אָמִיר (Yeshayahu 17:6), at the top of the amir, which is the uppermost bough. From this sense are הֶֽאֱמַרְתָּ (Devarim 26:17), that is, you have raised Him up and made Him great, and הֶֽאֱמִֽירְךָ (Devarim 26:18), He has raised you up; and so יִֽתְאַמְּרוּ כָּל־פֹּֽעֲלֵי אָֽוֶן (Tehillim 94:4), all the workers of iniquity raise themselves up and grow haughty. It may be that וּבִכְבוֹדָם תִּתְיַמָּֽרוּ (Yeshayahu 61:6), and in their glory you shall raise yourselves up, belongs here too, with the alef changed for a yud.

Some explain אִמְרוּ צַדִּיק כִּי־טוֹב (Yeshayahu 3:10) from the sense of exalting; Radak holds it right to take it from saying, say of the righteous that it is well. It may be that הֶֽאֱמַרְתָּ and הֶֽאֱמִֽירְךָ are from saying too: you brought it about that He said He would be a God to you, and He brought it about that you said to Him that you would be a people to Him and walk in His ways.

אָתָא בֹקֶר וְגַם־לָיְלָה (Yeshayahu 21:12), morning comes and night too, and עָדֶיךָ תֵאתֶה (Michah 4:8), it will come to you, have the alef at rest; מִצָּפוֹן זָהָב יֶֽאֱתֶה (Iyov 37:22), gold comes out of the north, and כְּסוּפָה יֶֽאֱתֶה (Mishlei 1:27), it comes like a storm, have it sounded. In הַעִירוֹתִי מִצָּפוֹן וַיַּאת (Yeshayahu 41:25), I roused one from the north and he came, the last root letter has dropped; and in וַיֵּתֶא רָאשֵׁי עָם (Devarim 33:21), and he came, the heads of the people, the alef stands for the heh that is the last root letter.

הָאֹֽתִיּוֹת שְׁאָלוּנִי (Yeshayahu 45:11), ask Me of the things to come, and הַגִּידוּ הָאֹֽתִיּוֹת לְאָחוֹר (Yeshayahu 41:23), tell what is to come hereafter. In these the last root letter shows itself turned into a yud, as it does in קָֽרְבוּ וַיֶּאֱתָיֽוּן (Yeshayahu 41:5), they drew near and came, and in כִּי פַחַד פָּחַדְתִּי וַיֶּאֱתָיֵנִי (Iyov 3:24 in his edition), what I feared has come upon me.

אֵתָיוּ אֶקְחָה־יַיִן (Yeshayahu 56:12), come, let me fetch wine; and with a heh in place of the alef that is the first root letter, הֵתָיוּ לְאָכְלָֽה (Yirmiyahu 12:9), come to devour, and לִקְרַאת צָמֵא הֵתָיוּ מָיִם (Yeshayahu 21:14), which he reads as telling the waters to come toward the thirsty man, the one wandering from his place before the sword.

בָּא אָחִיךָ בְּמִרְמָה (Bereishis 27:35), your brother came with guile. Where the verb takes an object it is bringing: וְהֵֽבֵאתִי עֲלֵיכֶם (Vayikra 26:25), I will bring upon you, and וְהֵבִיאוּ בָנַיִךְ בְּחֹצֶן (Yeshayahu 49:22), they shall bring your sons in the bosom; and in the passive, כִּי הֽוּבְאוּ בֵּית יוֹסֵף (Bereishis 43:18), that they were brought to Yosef's house. The noun is מָבוֹא, an entry: שֹֽׁמְרֵי הַמָּבֽוֹא (Divrei HaYamim I 9:19), the keepers of the entry, and in another form, סֵמֶל הַקִּנְאָה הַזֶּה בַּבִּאָֽה (Yechezkel 8:5), this image of jealousy at the entry. The word is also used as a way of honour for what passes between man and wife, as וַיָּבֹא אֶל־הָגָר (Bereishis 16:4), and he came to Hagar.

בָּא בִּשְׂכָרֽוֹ (Shemos 22:14), it came for its hire: it came to the work for its wage and not for nothing as with a borrower, and therefore the one who hired it does not pay if it was broken or died, as a borrower does.

וּגְדוּדֵי מוֹאָב יָבֹאוּ בָאָרֶץ בָּא שָׁנָֽה (Melachim II 13:20), and bands of Moav would come into the land בָּא שָׁנָֽה: Yonasan renders it as an infinitive, בְּמֵיעַל שַׁתָּא, at the coming in of the year. Radak allows that the alef may stand in place of the heh of בה, in it, that is, in that year, since he finds the two letters taking each other's place elsewhere as well.

בָּהֶם תְּֽבוֹאָתְךָ טוֹבָֽה (Iyov 22:21) is by them good will come to you, אַל־ תְּבוֹאֵנִי רֶגֶל גַּֽאֲוָה (Tehillim 36:12) is let not the foot of pride come to me, and כָּל־יַד עָמֵל תְּבֹאֶֽנּוּ (Iyov 20:22) is every hand of the toiler will come to him: so through the whole simple form of this root, the suffix is read with a lamed, to. And in בֹּֽאֲכָה אַשּׁוּרָה (Bereishis 25:18), as you come toward Ashur, the kaf is not an added letter, as many have thought, but is addressed to one who knows the place; were the kaf an added letter, the Mikra would not say בואכה with it in every place it does.

וּבָא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ (Koheles 1:5), and the sun comes in, and לֹֽא־ יָבוֹא עוֹד שִׁמְשֵׁךְ (Yeshayahu 60:20), your sun shall go in no more: the sense is the sun's entering and its going in. So קוּמִי אוֹרִי כִּֽי־ בָא אוֹרֵךְ (Yeshayahu 60:1), arise, shine, for your light has come in, is that the light you were led by until now has set, and from here on the glory of Hashem shines upon you. And where the verb takes an object, וְהֵבֵאתִי הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בַּצָּהֳרָיִם (Amos 8:9), I will bring the sun in at noon.

His father explains כִּֽי־ יָבוֹא כַנָּהָר צָר (Yeshayahu 59:19), for the adversary shall come in like the river, from this sense: like the river that goes into the sea and is seen no more. It may also be taken as it sounds: when the adversary comes to make war on Yisrael, like a river that comes in a rush, the spirit of Hashem drives against him and destroys him.

וַֽאֲכַלְתֶּם מִן־ הַתְּבוּאָה יָשָׁן (Vayikra 25:22), you shall eat of the old produce, and כִּתְבוּאַת גֹּרֶן וְכִתְבוּאַת יָֽקֶב (Bamidbar 18:30), like the produce of the threshing floor and of the winepress: it is a name that covers every fruit fit for food, and is called so because it belongs to the year that is coming, while that of the year gone by is called עָבוּר. Rabbi Yaakov ben Elazar takes from this sense וְהֵבֵאתָ (Shmuel II 9:10), and you shall bring in, which is accented on the syllable before the last although the word is a future, and likewise אִישׁ יָבִא בְּפִרְיוֹ (Shir HaShirim 8:11), each would bring in for its fruit, in the sense of produce; and Radak says there is no need to take them out of their own sense.

נִדְבְּרוּ and the words formed like it mean speaking kept up, and that is why they take this form: אָז נִדְבְּרוּ יִרְאֵי (Malachi 3:16), then those who fear Hashem kept speaking; הַנִּדְבָּרִים בְּךָ (Yechezkel 33:30), who keep speaking of you; and מַה נִּדְבַּרְנוּ עָלֶיךָ (Malachi 3:13), what have we kept speaking against You.

In sense it is like saying; the difference is in usage. Saying, אמירה, is never without someone spoken to, even where the pasuk does not say who: אִמְרִי נָא אֲחֹתִי אָתְּ (Bereishis 12:13), say that you are my sister, means say it to those who ask you. Speaking, דבור, stands without anyone spoken to, since it points at speech itself, the thing that belongs to man, which is why one says a man is living and speaking and not living and saying. Speaking is never said of what cannot speak, even in a figure, as saying, telling and relating are: וְיֹאמְרוּ לְךָ הִנֵּנוּ (Iyov 38:35), and they say to you, here we are; וְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וְיַגֶּד לָךְ (Iyov 12:7), and the bird of the heavens will relate it to you; וִיסַפְּרוּ לְךָ דְּגֵי הַיָּם (Iyov 12:8), and the fish of the sea will tell you. The two take different words after them as well: saying takes אֶל and the lamed alone, while speaking takes בְּ and אֶת besides. Either can mean to think: דִּבַּרְתִּי אֲנִי עִם לִבִּי (Koheles 1:16), I spoke with my heart, means I thought, and so does אָמַרְתִּי אֲנִי בְּלִבִּי (Koheles 2:1), I said in my heart.

עַל דְּבַר הַכֶּסֶף (Bereishis 43:18), on the matter of the money, and אֵין מַחְסוֹר כָּל דָּבָר (Shoftim 19:19), no lack of anything, of any kind a man needs. עַל דִּבְרָתִי מַלְכִּי צֶדֶק (Tehillim 110:4) and עַל דִּבְרַת בְּנֵי הָאָדָם (Koheles 3:18) can be read the same way: on the matter of Malki-Tzedek, on the matter of the sons of man.

דֶּבֶר כָּבֵד מְאֹד (Shemos 9:3), a very heavy pestilence, whose sense, he says, is death; and from it אֱהִי דְבָרֶיךָ מָוֶת (Hoshea 13:14), I will be your plagues, O death. The verb is from it too: יַדְבֵּר עַמִּים תַּחְתֵּינוּ (Tehillim 47:4), He brings death on peoples beneath us, and וַתְּדַבֵּר אֶת כָּל זֶרַע הַמַּמְלָכָה (Divrei HaYamim II 22:10), and she brought death on all the seed of the kingdom.

Some take בַּמִּדְבָּר in הַמַּכִּים אֶת מִצְרַיִם בְּכָל מַכָּה בַּמִּדְבָּר (Shmuel I 4:8), who struck Mitzrayim with every plague בַּמִּדְבָּר, from this sense of death. Or it is as it reads: He struck them at Yam Suf with every plague, as it says הַיָּד הַגְּדֹלָה (Shemos 14:31), the great hand, that He struck them with ten plagues, and בַּמִּדְבָּר is in the wilderness of Yam Suf. Yonasan renders it וּלְעַמֵיהּ עֲבַד פְּרִישָׁן בְּמַדְבְּרָא, and for His people He did wonders in the wilderness. Radak's father explains it as speech, like דָּבָר, from וּמִדְבָּרֵיךְ נָאוֶה (Shir HaShirim 4:3), and your speech is comely; on his reading they said, these are the gods who struck Mitzrayim with every plague by His word and His command alone, and now He Himself has come; who will save us from His hand?

מִדְבַּר סִינָי (Shemos 19:1), the wilderness of Sinai, and אֵת כָּל הַמִּדְבָּר הַגָּדוֹל (Devarim 1:19), all the great wilderness: a desolate place, neither worked nor settled. The place where cattle graze is also called מִדְבָּר, whether far from the city or near it, as עַל פְּנֵי דֶרֶךְ אֶת הַמִּדְבָּר (Shmuel II 15:23), toward the road to the grazing ground.

כְּעֵדֶר בְּתוֹךְ הַדָּבְרוֹ (Michah 2:12) he takes as like a flock amid its driving, and כְּדָבְרָם (Yeshayahu 5:17) as according to their driving, akin to the Targum, which renders וַיִּנְהַג, and he drove, as וּדְבַר. The right account, Radak says, is that the pasture of the flocks is called מִדְבָּר from this, since the shepherd drives the flock there, as וַיִּנְהַג אֶת הַצֹּאן אַחַר הַמִּדְבָּר (Shemos 3:1), and he drove the flock after good pasture to the pasture ground, as its Targum has it. From the same sense come דֹּבְרוֹת, rafts, the great logs tied at their heads and driven along the sea.

דְּבוֹרָה, a bee, as עֲדַת דְּבוֹרִים (Shoftim 14:8), a swarm of bees; and דְּבִיר, the inner house where the Aron was set, the outer one being called the הֵיכָל.

בְּחֶבְרוֹן מָלַךְ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים (Melachim I 2:11), in Chevron he reigned seven years, and וּמָלַךְ מֶלֶךְ וְהִשְׂכִּיל (Yirmiyahu 23:5), a king shall reign and prosper. Of a woman, וַעֲתַלְיָה מֹלֶכֶת עַל הָאָרֶץ (Melachim II 11:3), and Asalyah reigned over the land. Where the verb takes an object, הִמְלִיךְ אֶת שָׁאוּל (Shmuel I 15:35), he made Shaul king; in the passive, אֲשֶׁר הָמְלַךְ עַל מַלְכוּת כַּשְׂדִּים (Daniel 9:1), who was made king over the kingdom of the Kasdim. The sense of kingship, he says, is known.

The noun is מֶלֶךְ, a king, and the plural אַרְבָּעָה מְלָכִים (Bereishis 14:9), four kings, written also with an alef of prolongation, לְעֵת צֵאת הַמְּלָאכִים (Shmuel II 11:1), at the time kings go out. Kingship is מְלוּכָה: וְאֶת דְּבַר הַמְּלוּכָה לֹא הִגִּיד לוֹ (Shmuel I 10:16), but the matter of the kingship he did not tell him. Other forms are מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים (Shemos 19:6), a kingdom of kohanim, and מַמְלְכוּת עוֹג (Yehoshua 13:12), the kingdom of Og; and without the added mem, מַלְכוּת כַּשְׂדִּים (Daniel 9:1), the kingdom of the Kasdim. Its plural is אַרְבַּע מַלְכֻיוֹת (Daniel 8:22), four kingdoms, where, tav and heh being alike, the yud that stands for the heh in the plural takes the place of the tav, as in גָּלוּת, exile, and גָּלֻיּוֹת, exiles. Some explain לִמְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם (Yirmiyahu 7:18), to the מְלֶכֶת of the heavens, from this sense, meaning to a great star in the heavens.

In another sense, וַיִּמָּלֵךְ לִבִּי עָלַי (Nechemiah 5:7), my heart took counsel within me: its sense is taking counsel, and it resembles the Aramaic מִלְכִּי יִשְׁפַּר עֲלָיךְ (Daniel 4:24), let my counsel be pleasing to you, and the words of Chazal (Berachos 29b), המלך בקונך וצא, take counsel with your Maker and go out. Some explain from this בֶּן מַלְכֵי קֶדֶם (Yeshayahu 19:11) as a son of counsellors of old.

Rabbi Yonah explained מְלָכִין (Mishlei 31:3) from this sense of counsel, and so also הֲתִמְלֹךְ כִּי אַתָּה מְתַחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז (Yirmiyahu 22:15), התמלך because you vie with the cedar, the tav drawn out with a maarich and the mem with a sheva and a patach, which Radak spells out, on that reading, as: do you think in your heart to liken and equal yourself to the great king. There is no need, Radak says, to take them out of the sense of kingship. That pasuk in Mishlei he explains under the root מחה; and הֲתִמְלֹךְ כִּי אַתָּה מְתַחֲרֶה בָאָרֶז is: do you imagine yourself a king, and grow proud to vie with the cedar, that is, with one greater than you; that is, the kingship is not yours, to be proud over one greater than you.

אֲשֶׁר יִתֵּן מִזַּרְעוֹ לַמֹּלֶךְ (Vayikra 20:2), who gives of his seed to the Molech, and וּלְמֹלֶךְ שִׁקֻּץ בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן (Melachim I 11:7), and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon: it is the name of an avodah zarah. Its service was that a man handed his son to its priests, and they made two great fires and passed the son on his feet between the two fires. In לֹא תִתֵּן (Vayikra 18:21), you shall not give, is the handing to the priests, and in לְהַעֲבִיר, to pass over, the passing through the fire.

וְיָשַׁב וּמָשַׁל עַל־כִּסְאוֹ (Zecharyah 6:13), he will sit and rule on his throne; וּמָֽשַׁלְתָּ בְּגוֹיִם רַבִּים (Devarim 15:6), and you will rule over many nations; מְשָׁל ־בָּנוּ גַּם־אַתָּה (Shoftim 8:22), rule over us, you too; משֵׁל בִּגְבוּרָתוֹ (Tehillim 66:7), He rules by His might. The noun is in וּמָשַׁל מִמְשָׁל רַב (Daniel 11:3), and he will rule a great dominion, with the mem in chirik; and with a heh or a tav added, הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה הָרִאשֹׁנָה (Michah 4:8), the first dominion, לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם (Bereishis 1:16), for the rule of the day, and וּמֶֽמְשַׁלְתְּךָ בְּכָל־דּוֹר וָדֽוֹר (Tehillim 145:13), and Your dominion is in every generation.

Another sense: הנה כָּל־ הַמֹּשֵׁל עָלַיִךְ יִמְשֹׁל (Yechezkel 16:44), see, everyone who speaks in parables will speak one about you; עַל־כֵּן יֹֽאמְרוּ הַמּֽשְׁלִים (Bamidbar 21:27), therefore those who speak in parables say; מֹֽשְׁלֵי הָעָם הַזֶּה (Yeshayahu 28:14), the speakers of parables of this people, which Yonasan took from the first sense and rendered שִׁלְטוֹנֵי עַמָא, the rulers of the people. The noun is לְהָבִין מָשָׁל (Mishlei 1:6), to understand a parable, וַיִּשָּׂא מְשָׁלוֹ (Bamidbar 23:7), and he took up his parable, לְמָשָׁל וְלִשְׁנִינָה (Devarim 28:36 in his edition), for a parable and a byword; and where a man makes them, הֲלֹא מְמַשֵּׁל מְשָׁלִים הֽוּא (Yechezkel 21:5), is he not a maker of parables? A מָשָׁל is the likening of one thing to another, and it also holds hidden matters.

In מְשַׁל הַקַּדְמֹנִי (Shmuel I 24:13 in his edition) the word is in the construct, and it means the parable of the ancient maker of parables; or else it is another pattern and not construct at all, and הקדמוני describes it: the ancient parable.

נִמְשַׁל כַּבְּהֵמוֹת (Tehillim 49:13), he is likened to the beasts; וְנִמְשַׁלְתִּי עִם־יוֹרְדֵי בֽוֹר (Tehillim 28:1), and I will be likened to those who go down to the pit; וָֽאֶתְמַשֵּׁל כֶּֽעָפָר וָאֵֽפֶר (Iyov 30:19), and I am likened to dust and ashes; and where one likens another, וְתַמְשִׁלוּנִי וְנִדְמֶֽה (Yeshayahu 46:5), and you liken Me, that we be alike. So too in this sense זִכְרֹֽנֵיכֶם מִשְׁלֵי־אֵפֶר (Iyov 13:12), your remembrances are likenings of ash.

The adjective from this is הַמִּמְשָׁלִים לְבֵית אֲבִיהֶם (Divrei HaYamim I 26:6), those likened to their father's house, meaning like them in might, for they were mighty men of valour. The mem comes with a chirik, as in עֲתַלְיָהוּ הַמִּרְשַׁעַת (Divrei HaYamim II 24:7), Atalyahu the wicked one, and וְהֶֽעָרִים הַמִּבְדָּלוֹת (Yehoshua 16:9), and the cities set apart.