---
title: Esther 3:9 (JPS 1917) — If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and… · tree and pragmatics
description: If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have the charge of the king's business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.' Who acts: kingdom, I. Esther 3:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# Esther 3:9 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have the charge of the king's business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** kingdom, I · **What happens:** please, let, write, destroy, pay, have · **To what, where:** people, thousand talents, hands, charge, kingdom, treasuries

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Esther 3:9 · 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 (kingdom, I), 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:56
# text = If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have the charge of the king's business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.'
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	please	please	VERB	VBP	Mood=Sub|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	ccomp	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	destroyed	destroy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	ccomp	_	_
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
20	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	compound	_	_
21	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	_
22	talents	talent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
25	into	into	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	27	nmod	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
31	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl:relcl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	charge	charge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod:poss	_	_
37	's	's	PART	POS	_	36	case	_	_
38	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	into	into	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod:poss	_	_
46	's	's	PART	POS	_	45	case	_	_
47	treasuries	treasury	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	_
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
49	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **please** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | kingdom |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP-PRO-ARB»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **let** | infinitive | kingdom |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **write** | infinitive · passive | kingdom *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: clause=Topic |
| 4 | **destroy** | infinitive · passive |  | people |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 5 | **pay** | future | I | thousand talents of silver |  | the hands of those |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent talent=Asset |
| 6 | **have** | present |  | the charge of the king's business |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent charge=Patient |
| 7 | **bring** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | kingdom |  | the king's treasuries |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme into treasury=Destination |
| 8 | **charge** |  |  | the king's business |  |  |  |  | nom charge «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
אִם־עַל־הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ ט֔וֹב יִכָּתֵ֖ב לְאַבְּדָ֑ם וַעֲשֶׂ֨רֶת אֲלָפִ֜ים כִּכַּר־כֶּ֗סֶף אֶשְׁקוֹל֙ עַל־יְדֵי֙ עֹשֵׂ֣י הַמְּלָאכָ֔ה לְהָבִ֖יא אֶל־גִּנְזֵ֥י הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃

[Esther 3:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.3.9/)

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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:56` 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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