time

וָאֶתְּנָה לוֹ זְמָן (Nechemiah 2:6), and I set him a time; לַכֹּל זְמָן וְעֵת (Koheles 3:1), everything has its time and its season; and יְמֵי הַפֻּרִים הָאֵלֶּה בִּזְמַנֵּיהֶם (Esther 9:31), these days of Purim at their times, which he glosses as year by year.

לְעִתִּים מְזֻמָּנִים (Ezra 10:14) and בְּעִתִּים מְזֻמָּנוֹת (Nechemiah 13:31), at times appointed; of these he says only that their sense is known.

מִן־הַמּוֹעֵד אֲשֶׁר יְעָדוֹ (Shmuel II 20:5), from the set time he had appointed him, and וְאִם־לִבְנוֹ יִיעָדֶנָּה (Shemos 21:9), and if he appoints her for his son.

וְנוֹעַדְתִּי לְךָ שָׁם (Shemos 25:22), I will meet with you there, and כִּי־הִנֵּה הַמְּלָכִים נוֹעֲדוּ (Tehillim 48:5), for behold the kings had assembled. All of these, and those above, are the sense of summoning.

Rabbi Yehudah set יוֹעִידֶנִּי apart to a sense of its own; Radak says there is no need, since these too are summoning. כִּי מִי כָמוֹנִי וּמִי יֹעִידֶנִּי (Yirmiyahu 49:19) Radak explains as who will summon for Me one like Me, and וְאִם־לְמִשְׁפָּט מִי יוֹעִידֵנִי (Iyov 9:19), and if for judgment, is read as who will summon me to judgment with Hashem.

בְּמֹעֵד שְׁנַת הַשְּׁמִטָּה (Devarim 31:10), at the set time of the shemittah year; וַיֹּֽאכְלוּ אֶת־ הַמּוֹעֵד שִׁבְעַת הַיָּמִים (Divrei HaYamim II 30:22), they ate the מועד seven days, which he glosses זבחי המועד, the offerings of the set time; מוֹעֵד וְשַׁבָּת (Eichah 2:6), set time and Shabbos; and לַשַּׁבָּתוֹת וְלֶחֳדָשִׁים וְלַמּוֹעֲדוֹת (Divrei HaYamim II 8:13), for the Shabbosos, the new moons and the set times, all of which he says mean time, times.

מֵהַבֹּקֶר וְעַד־עֵת מוֹעֵד (Shmuel II 24:15), from the morning until the time of the מועד, he takes as the time of the offering, which he puts at four hours, and so Targum Yonasan renders it, from when the tamid is slaughtered until it is brought up.

A place where people gather at a known time is called a מוֹעֵד. שָׁאֲגוּ צֹרְרֶיךָ בְּקֶרֶב מוֹעֲדֶךָ (Tehillim 74:4), your foes roared in the midst of your meeting place, he takes of the Beis HaMikdash, where all Yisrael would meet, and so שָׂרְפוּ כָל־מוֹעֲדֵי־אֵל (Tehillim 74:8), they burned all the meeting places of Hashem. קְרִאֵי מוֹעֵד (Bamidbar 16:2), those called to the meeting, are those called when the great men met on some matter, since they were men of standing.

The אהל מועד is so called because Yisrael would gather there, and further because Hashem met with Moshe there, as וְנוֹעַדְתִּי לְךָ שָׁם (Shemos 25:22), I will meet with you there, says.

וְאֵשֵׁב בְּהַר־מוֹעֵד בְּיַרְכְּתֵי צָפוֹן (Yeshayahu 14:13), I will sit on the mount of meeting in the far north, is a place where all the kings gather and meet to him, which he says is Bavel; וּבֵית מוֹעֵד לְכָל־חָי (Iyov 30:23), a meeting house for all the living, is the grave, where all the living meet when their end comes; and עָרֵי הַמּוּעָדָה (Yehoshua 20:9), the cities of meeting, are the cities where anyone who killed by accident was to gather.

The assembly is called an עֵדָה, as קְרִיאֵי הָעֵדָה (Bamidbar 26:9), those called of the congregation, because they are summoned together in their gathering; and so a swarm, וְהִנֵּה עֲדַת דְּבוֹרִים (Shoftim 14:8), a company of bees, gathered as though each had been summoned to the next.

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.

וְאֶל־קַיִן וְאֶל־מִנְחָתוֹ לֹא שָׁעָה (Bereishis 4:5), and to Kayin and his offering He did not turn, while אֶל־הֶבֶל וְאֶל־מִנְחָתוֹ (Bereishis 4:4), to Hevel and his offering, He did turn. Their sense is לא פנה, He did not turn, and ויפן, He turned, in the way of אַל־תֵּפֶן אֶל־מִנְחָתָם (Bamidbar 16:15), do not turn to their offering.

יִשְׁעוּ וְאֵין מֹשִׁיעַ (Shmuel II 22:42) he reads as turning this way and that with none to save; or it is like יְשַׁוְּעוּ (Tehillim 18:42), they cry out, so that שׁוּעַ and שָׁעָה would be one sense.

In another sense, יִשְׁעֶה הָאָדָם עַל־עֹשֵׂהוּ (Yeshayahu 17:7), a man will trust in his Maker; וְלֹא יִשְׁעֶה אֶל־הַמִּזְבְּחוֹת (Yeshayahu 17:8), he will not trust in the altars; וְלֹא שָׁעוּ עַל־קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yeshayahu 31:1), they did not trust in the Holy One of Yisrael; and וְאַל־יִשְׁעוּ בְּדִבְרֵי־שָׁקֶר (Shemos 5:9), let them not trust in words of falsehood. Their sense is trust; it may be that these too are to be explained from the first sense.

וְלֹא תִשְׁעֶינָה עֵינֵי רֹאִים (Yeshayahu 32:3), the eyes of those who see shall not be alarmed, and אַל־תִּשְׁתָּע כִּי־אֲנִי אֱלֹהֶיךָ (Yeshayahu 41:10), be not alarmed, for I am your God: their sense is alarm and fear. The first can also be read from וְעֵינָיו הָשַׁע (Yeshayahu 6:10), and shut his eyes, and then they would be two roots with one sense.

On אַל־תִּשְׁתָּע, be not alarmed, the midrash says אל תהיה כשעוה, do not be like wax (Bereishis Rabbah 43), שעוה being the דונג, wax; that is, do not melt like wax before the fire. And שעוה is beyond doubt from this root.

שְׁעֵה מֵעָלָיו וְיֶחְדָּל (Iyov 14:6), let him alone, that he may cease, and שְׁעוּ מִנִּי אֲמָרֵר בַּבֶּכִי (Yeshayahu 22:4), let me alone, I will weep bitterly: their sense is letting be. His father explains אַל־תִּשְׁתָּע from this sense, which Radak spells out as אל תתרפה, do not go slack.

וְאֶשְׁעָה בְחֻקֶּיךָ תָמִיד (Tehillim 119:117), I will delight in Your statutes always, is of the sense of תּוֹרָתְךָ שַׁעֲשֻׁעָי (Tehillim 119:92), Your Torah is my delight, the kamatz standing in for a segol; or it may be a sense of telling, from the Targum of וַיְסַפֵּר (Bereishis 37:10), and he told, which is וְאִשְׁתָּעֵי. So too וְנִשְׁתָּעָה (Yeshayahu 41:23), and let us tell, where the kamatz again stands where a segol would; but Targum Yonasan renders it וְנִסְתַּכֵּיל, and let us look, and on that it belongs to the first sense.

וּבְמַיִם לֹא־רֻחַצְתְּ לְמִשְׁעִי (Yechezkel 16:4), nor were you washed in water לְמִשְׁעִי, a word he gives no sense here: he has written it under the root שוע.