ארה לי. לשון צווי מפעלי הכפל בחסרון אות הכפל וכן קבה לי והנה קוב על משקל שמור וקבה לי בחסרון הה"א על דרך משקל שכב רכב צלח: CURSE ME. The word arah (curse) is an imperative. It comes from a double root with one of the double letters missing. The same is true of with the word kavah (curse) in curse me (v. 18). The word kov (curse) is vocalized according to the paradigm of shemor (keep).14It is vocalized with a cholam. Kavah15Kavah is an elongated form of kav. in kavah li (curse me) minus the heh16Pronounced kav. follows the paradigm of shechav (lie), rekhav (ride), and tzelach (rested on).17They are all vocalized with a pattach.
נכה בו. שם הפועל ואין טענה בעבור היותו בה"א כי הנה כמוהו לכלה הפשע: THAT WE MAY SMITE THEM. Nakkeh (that we may smite them)18From the root nun, caf, heh. is an infinitive. The fact that it ends in a heh is no argument against the latter,19The heh changes to a tav in the infinitive in words ending in a heh. Thus our word should have read le-nakkot. Hence I.E.’s comment. for the word le-khalle20From the root caf, lamed, heh. (to finish), in to finish the transgression (Dan. 9:24) is similar.21It too is an infinitive, and Scripture employs the form le-khalle rather than the more usual form le-khallot.
יואר. הוי"ו הנח הנעלם תחת הדגש שהוא תחת אות הכפל כמו על כמון יושב ולא היה כמוהו מאותו בנין בעבור אות הגרון כמשפט: IS CURSED. The silent vav of yu’ar (is cursed) is in place of a dagesh, which is in place of the missing double letter.22The root of yu’ar is alef, resh, resh. Yu’ar is spelled with only one resh. Compare, yusav23Yusav and yu’ar are both pu’als. (turned about)24Yusav comes from the root samekh, bet, bet. In I.E.’s version of Scripture, unlike our versions, it does not have a dagesh. in turned about upon the cummin (Is. 28:27). There is no other word like it in this form, because of the rules concerning gutturals.25The alef. A guttural according to the rules of grammar does not receive a dagesh.