1
חמת תנינים - היה להם לשתות מן הדין, אם לא מפני חילול השם, שיאמרו ידנו רמה. חמת תנינים, they should by rights have been made to drink the venom of asps had it not been for the desecration of G’d’s holy name that would have resulted from this, for the nations would have said: “we have accomplished this.”
2
פתנים אכזר - רשע, כדכתיב: פתן חרש יאטם אזנו. פתנים אכזר, the word פתן means “a wicked creature;” it also occurs in Psalms 58,5 פתן חרש יאטם אזנו, “a deaf viper that stops its ears.”