---
title: Esther 3:2 (JPS 1917) — But Mordecai bowed not down, nor prostrated himself before him. · tree and pragmatics
description: But Mordecai bowed not down, nor prostrated himself before him. Who acts: Mordecai. Esther 3:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/EST.49/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Ketuvim](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/) / [Esther](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST/) / [chapter 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST/3/) / [3:2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.3.2/) / JPS 2

# Esther 3:2 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But Mordecai bowed not down, nor prostrated himself before him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Mordecai · **What happens:** not bow down, prostrate · **To what, where:** Mordecai

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Esther 3:2 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2 in the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, from Mova's open Bible corpus. The page gives the sentence's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, parsed by Mova and checked by a teacher model — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mordecai), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it. The original of the verse links back to its own tree and to the Targum.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = jps:EST:49
# text = But Mordecai bowed not down, nor prostrated himself before him.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Mordecai	Mordecai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	bowed	bow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	8	cc	_	_
8	prostrated	prostrate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obj	_	_
10	before	before	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **bow down** | past | Mordecai |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **prostrate** | past | Mordecai *not said here* | Mordecai |  |  | before Mordecai |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The Hebrew of this verse {#hebrew}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
וְכָל־עַבְדֵ֨י הַמֶּ֜לֶךְ אֲשֶׁר־בְּשַׁ֣עַר הַמֶּ֗לֶךְ כֹּרְעִ֤ים וּמִֽשְׁתַּחֲוִים֙ לְהָמָ֔ן כִּי־כֵ֖ן צִוָּה־ל֣וֹ הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ וּמָ֨רְדֳּכַ֔י לֹ֥א יִכְרַ֖ע וְלֹ֥א יִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֶֽה׃

[Esther 3:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.3.2/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

<!-- .ens -->
1. [And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed down, and prostrated themselves before Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/EST.48/)
2. **But Mordecai bowed not down, nor prostrated himself before him.**

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EST:49` of Mova's parse database.

**The tree and the speech act** come from Mova's cycle: the small model's draft, read by a large model as teacher, passed by Mova's gates (Elamur Cosmic License). **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the chapter read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence of the chapter.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Esther 3:2 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/EST.48/)
- next →: [Esther 3:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/EST.50/)
- ↑ back to [Esther 3:2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.3.2/)