from נפץ; the Syr. and Targ. have instead פדועא (פדיעא) from פּדע = פּצע; the word פּריעא, on which Hitzig builds a conjecture, is an error of transcription (vid., Lagarde and Levy). The expression, 18b, is from the decalogue, Exo 20:16; Deu 5:17. It is for the most part translated the same here as there: he who speaks against his neighbour as a false witness. But rightly the lxx, Jerome, the Venet., and Luther: false testimony. As אל sA .y signifies both that which is mighty = power, and Him who is mighty = God, so עד signifies both him who bears testimony and the testimony that is borne, properly that which repeats itself and thereby strengthens itself; accordingly we say ענה עד, to give testimony in reply - viz. to the judge who asks - or generally to offer testimony (even unasked); as well as ענה לעד, Deu 31:21, i.e., as evidence (Jerome, pro testimonio). The prep. ב with this ענה has always the meaning of contra, also at 1Sa 12:3; Gen 30:33 is, however, open to question.
Verse 19
Pro 25:19 19 A worthless tooth and an unsteady foot - Trust in a faithless man in the day of need.
The form רעה (with Mercha on the antepenult), Isa 29:19, takes the place of an inf. absol.; רעה here (about the tone syllable of which Dechî does not decide, thus without doubt Milra) is certainly not a subst.: tooth of breaking (Gesen.); for how strange such a designation of a worthless tooth! שׁן is indeed mas. in 1Sa 14:5, but it can also be used as fem., as רגל, which is for the most part fem., also occurs as mas., Göttche. §650. Böttcher, in the new Aehrenlese, and in the Lehrbuch, takes רעה as fem. of an adj. רע, after the form חל; but חל is not an adj., and does not form a fem., although it means not merely profanity, but that which is profane; this is true also of the Aram. חוּל; for חוּלתּא, Est 2:9, Targ., is a female name mistaken by Buxtorf. Are we then to read רעה, with Hitzig, after the lxx? - an unimportant change. We interpret the traditional רעה, with Fleischer, as derived from רועעה, from רועע, breaking to pieces (crumbling), in an intransitive sense. The form מוּעדת is also difficult. Böttcher regards it as also, e.g., Aben Ezra after the example of Gecatilia as part. Kal. = מועדת, “only on account of the pausal tone and the combination of the two letters מע with û instead of ô.” But
