---
title: 1 Kings 8:37 (JPS 1917) — If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be… · tree and pragmatics
description: If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; Who acts: plague, pestilence, blasting, enemy. 1 Kings 8:37 in JPS 1917 with its de
---

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# 1 Kings 8:37 · JPS 1917

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If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

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**Who acts:** plague, pestilence, blasting, enemy · **What happens:** be, besiege · **To what, where:** land famine, people, land

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This is 1 Kings 8:37 · 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 (plague, pestilence, blasting, enemy), 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:1KI:319
# text = If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	be	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	advcl	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	famine	famine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	11	expl	_	_
11	be	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
12	pestilence	pestilence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	16	expl	_	_
16	be	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
17	blasting	blast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
18	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	mildew	mildew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	locust	locust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	caterpillar	caterpillar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	_
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
25	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	besiege	besiege	VERB	VBD	Mood=Sub|VerbForm=Fin	43	advcl	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	_
36	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
37	whatsoever	whatsoever	DET	DT	PronType=Int	38	det	_	_
38	plague	plague	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	whatsoever	whatsoever	DET	DT	PronType=Int	41	det	_	_
41	sickness	sickness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	appos	_	_
42	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	43	expl	_	_
43	be	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
44	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	43	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 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | whatsoever plague *not said here* |  |  | the land famine; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in famine=Location |
| 2 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | pestilence |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **does** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | blasting or mildew and locust or caterpillar |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **besiege** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | people's enemy | people |  | the land of people's cities |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** | present | whatsoever plague |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
רָעָ֞ב כִּֽי־יִהְיֶ֣ה בָאָ֗רֶץ דֶּ֣בֶר כִּֽי־יִ֠הְיֶה שִׁדָּפ֨וֹן יֵרָק֜וֹן אַרְבֶּ֤ה חָסִיל֙ כִּ֣י יִהְיֶ֔ה כִּ֧י יָֽצַר־ל֛וֹ אֹיְב֖וֹ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ שְׁעָרָ֑יו כָּל־נֶ֖גַע כָּֽל־מַחֲלָֽה׃

[1 Kings 8:37: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1KI.8.37/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1KI:319` 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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