---
title: Esther 3:4 (JPS 1917) — Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily unto him, and he hearkene… · tree and pragmatics
description: Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew. Who acts: commandment, servants, Mordecai, words. Esther 3:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Esther 3:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** commandment, servants, Mordecai, words · **What happens:** come, pass, speak, not hearken, tell, see · **To what, where:** Haman, servants, Jew · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Esther 3:4 · JPS 1917 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 (commandment, servants, Mordecai, words), 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:51
# text = Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	9	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	daily	daily	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	hearkened	hearken	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
18	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
24	Haman	Haman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	iobj	_	_
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	advcl	_	_
28	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
29	Mordecai	Mordecai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nmod:poss	_	_
30	's	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	ccomp	_	_
34	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
35	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	iobj	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
42	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	Jew	jew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	ccomp	_	_
45	.	.	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 | **come** | past | commandment |  |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive | commandment *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | servants *= servant* |  |  |  |  | unto Mordecai; daily *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **hearken** | past | Mordecai |  |  |  |  | unto servants *= servant* | tree rules |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | servants *= servant* |  | Haman |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent haman=Recipient |
| 6 | **see** | to-infinitive | servants *= servant* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **stand** | would | Mordecai's words |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | Mordecai |  | servants *= servant* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 9 | **is a** | past | Mordecai | a Jew |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **word** |  | Mordecai |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיְהִ֗י כְּאָמְרָ֤ם אֵלָיו֙ י֣וֹם וָי֔וֹם וְלֹ֥א שָׁמַ֖ע אֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וַיַּגִּ֣ידוּ לְהָמָ֗ן לִרְאוֹת֙ הֲיַֽעַמְדוּ֙ דִּבְרֵ֣י מָרְדֳּכַ֔י כִּֽי־הִגִּ֥יד לָהֶ֖ם אֲשֶׁר־ה֥וּא יְהוּדִֽי׃

[Esther 3:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.3.4/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EST:51` 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.

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