ABENEZRA (Ibn Ezra), whose full name was Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (1092 or 1o93-1167), Jewish poet and scholar, was a native of Toledo. He had already gained a reputa tion as a thinker and poet before he left Spain, some time before I 14o, and began the travels in northern Africa, in England, France and Italy which extended over a quarter of a century. He trans lated the writings of Hayyilj, the father of modern Hebrew gram mar, from Arabic into Hebrew, and himself wrote treatises on the subject, the most important of which are Moznayirn ("the Scales"), written in 114o, and Zahot ("Correctness"), written in 1141. His writings include works on philosophy, astronomy and mathematics, but his fame is derived chiefly from his commen taries on the Scriptures. Ibn Ezra sought to establish the simple sense of the text, basing his interpretation on solid grammatical principles. The commentary on the Pentateuch was first printed at Naples in 1488 ; in this edition a second commentary on Exodus takes the place of the original one. The great editions of the Hebrew Bible contain other commentaries by Ibn Ezra on Isaiah, the Minor Prophets, Job and Daniel, and his name was attached to commentaries on Proverbs, Ezra and Nehemiah, which were really the work of Moses Kimhi. The YOsad Mera (1158), the best known of his writings on the philosophy of religion, explains the reasons for the biblical commandments.
the literature on Ibn Ezra may be especially mentioned: M. Friedlander, Essays on the Writings of Ibn Ezra (London, 1877) ; W. Bacher, Abraham Ibn Ezra als Grammatiker (Strasburg, 1882) ; M. Steinschneider, Abraham Ibn Ezra, in the Zeitschrift fur Mathematik und Physik, Band xxv. Supplement ; D. Rosin, Die Religionsphilosophie Abraham Ibn Ezra's in vols. xlii. and xliii. of the Monatschrift fiir Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Juden thums; his Diwan was edited by T. Egers (Berlin, 1886) ; a collection of his poems, Reime and Gedichte, with translation and commentary, were published by D. Rosin in several annual reports of the Jewish theological' seminary at Breslau (1885-94).