Commento su Genesi 44:4
הֵ֠ם יָֽצְא֣וּ אֶת־הָעִיר֮ לֹ֣א הִרְחִיקוּ֒ וְיוֹסֵ֤ף אָמַר֙ לַֽאֲשֶׁ֣ר עַל־בֵּית֔וֹ ק֥וּם רְדֹ֖ף אַחֲרֵ֣י הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֑ים וְהִשַּׂגְתָּם֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם לָ֛מָּה שִׁלַּמְתֶּ֥ם רָעָ֖ה תַּ֥חַת טוֹבָֽה׃
Erano appena usciti della città, senza esserne lontani, quando Giuseppe disse al suo maggiordomo: Corri prontamente dietro a quegli uomini, e, raggiuntili, dì loro: Perchè avete pagato male per bene?
Rashbam on Genesis
יצאו את העיר, similar to Joshua 6,7 עברו את העיר, “go through the city,” or Exodus 9,29 כצאתי את העיר, “when I leave the city.” A similar construction with pronoun ending instead is found in Jeremiah 10,20 בני יצאוני, “my children have left me.” [the point is the construction in the accusative, with or without the word את. Ed.]
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Radak on Genesis
הם יצאו את העיר, the word את in this verse means “from.” A similar construction is found in Exodus 9,29 כצאתי את העיר, “when I leave the boundaries of the city.”
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Tur HaArokh
הם יצאו את העיר, לא הרחיקו, “They had left the city, and had not traveled a great distance, etc.” The words את העיר mean the same as מן העיר, from the city. Alternately, the meaning of the phrase is “although they had departed they had not yet traveled far from the city.” The reason was that that the pursuers could not afford to let them get far away before arresting them, as they were known to be brave warriors and once outside the urban area they would simply kill their pursuers in self defense.
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