---
title: Esther 3:6 (JPS 1917) — But it seemed contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordecai alon… · tree and pragmatics
description: But it seemed contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had made known to him the people of Mordecai; wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. Who acts: hands, Haman, Jews. Esther 3:6 in J
---

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# Esther 3:6 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But it seemed contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had made known to him the people of Mordecai; wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.

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**Who acts:** hands, Haman, Jews · **What happens:** seem, lay, make, know, seek, destroy · **To what, where:** wrath, hands, Mordecai, people, Jews

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Esther 3:6 · 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 (hands, Haman, Jews), 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:53
# text = But it seemed contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had made known to him the people of Mordecai; wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	expl	_	_
3	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	contemptible	contemptible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	csubj	_	_
10	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Mordecai	Mordecai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
19	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	xcomp	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	Mordecai	Mordecai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
27	wherefore	wherefore	SCONJ	WRB	_	29	mark	_	_
28	Haman	Haman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	34	det:predet	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Jews	Jew	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	_
35	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
36	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	_
37	throughout	throughout	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	acl:relcl	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	Ahasuerus	Ahasuerus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	_
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	even	even	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	appos	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	Mordecai	Mordecai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	_
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past |  | wrath |  |  |  | in Mordecai's eyes; contemptible *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Theme in eye=Attribute |
| 2 | **lay** | to-infinitive |  | hands |  | Mordecai |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hand=Theme on mordecai=Destination |
| 3 | **make** | past · perfect | hands *= hand* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** | participle | hands *= hand* *not said here* | the people of Mordecai | Mordecai |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer people=Stimulus |
| 5 | **seek** | past | Haman |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **destroy** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Haman *not said here* | all Jews |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent jew=Patient |
| 7 | **is** | past | all Jews |  |  |  | throughout the whole kingdom | of Ahasuerus | 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 -->
וַיִּ֣בֶז בְּעֵינָ֗יו לִשְׁלֹ֤חיָד֙ בְּמָרְדֳּכַ֣י לְבַדּ֔וֹ כִּֽי־הִגִּ֥ידוּ ל֖וֹ אֶת־עַ֣ם מָרְדֳּכָ֑י וַיְבַקֵּ֣שׁ הָמָ֗ן לְהַשְׁמִ֧יד אֶת־כָּל־הַיְּהוּדִ֛ים אֲשֶׁ֛ר בְּכָל־מַלְכ֥וּת אֲחַשְׁוֵר֖וֹשׁ עַ֥ם מָרְדֳּכָֽי׃

[Esther 3:6: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.3.6/)

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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:53` 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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