אמרתי אפאיהם. אָמַרְתִּי בְלִבִּי אַפְאֶה אוֹתָם, וְיֵשׁ לְפָרֵשׁ אפאיהם אֲשִׁיתֵם פֵּאָה, לְהַשְׁלִיכָם מֵעָלַי הֶפְקֵר, וְדֻגְמָתוֹ מָצִינוּ בְעֶזְרָא (נחמיה ט') "וַתִּתֵּן לָהֶם מַמְלָכוֹת וַעֲמָמִים וַתַּחְלְקֵם לְפֵאָה" — לְהֶפְקֵר, וְכֵן חִבְּרוֹ מְנַחֵם. וְיֵשׁ פּוֹתְרִים אוֹתוֹ כְּתַרְגּוּמוֹ "יָחוּל רוּגְזִי עֲלֵיהוֹן", וְלֹא יִתָּכֵן, שֶׁאִם כֵּן הָיָה לוֹ לִכְתֹּב אֲאַפְאֵיהֶם, אַחַת לְשִׁמּוּשׁ וְאַחַת לִיסוֹד, כְּמוֹ "אֲאַזֶּרְךָ" (ישעיהו מ"ה), "אֲאַמִּצְכֶם בְּמוֹ פִי" (איוב ט"ו), וְהָאָלֶ"ף הַתִּיכוֹנָה אֵינָהּ רְאוּיָה בוֹ כְלָל. וְאֻנְקְלוֹס תִּרְגֵּם אַחַר לְשׁוֹן הַבָּרַיְתָא הַשְּׁנוּיָה בְסִפְרֵי הַחוֹלֶקֶת תֵּבָה זוֹ לְשָׁלוֹשׁ תֵּבוֹת, אָמַרְתִּי אַף אֵי הֵם — אָמַרְתִּי בְאַפִּי אֶתְּנֵם כְּאִלּוּ אֵינָם שֶׁיֹּאמְרוּ רוֹאֵיהֶם עֲלֵיהֶם אַיֵּה הֵם: אמרתי אפאיהם means, I said in my heart, “I will אפאה them”. One may explain אפאיהם to mean: I would make them as פאה, i.e. “as grain left in the corner of the field”, to cast them away from Me as something free to all. We find a similar idea to this in Ezra (Nehemiah 9:22), “And thou gavest them kingdoms and nations and didst set them aside as a corner (פאה)” — i.e., as free to all. Thus (under this meaning) did Menachem ben Seruk classify it. Others expound it as the Targum does: My wrath (אף) will fall upon them. This is, however, not correct, for if it were so (i.e., if אפאיהם were connected with אף) it ought to have written אֲאַפְאֵיהֶם with two Alephs, the one as a servile letter (a prefix) and the other as a root letter, just as in (Isaiah 45:5) אאזרך, “I girded thee”, and (Job 16:5) “I would strengthen you (אאמצכם) with my mouth” (in both these cases the first letter of the root is א as it is in אף), and the middle א (that after the פ) would not be proper to be in it at all. Onkelos, however (in connecting the word with אף, anger), rendered it according to the explanation of a Baraitha taught in Sifrei Devarim 322:1 which divides this word into three words, אמרתי אף אי הם, which means, I said in My anger (אף) I will make them as though they were not existent, i.e., that those who are looking for them would ask about them, “Where are they (אי הם)?".