---
title: 1 Kings 12:4 (JPS 1917) — 'Thy father made our yoke grievous; now therefore make thou the grie… · tree and pragmatics
description: 'Thy father made our yoke grievous; now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.' Who acts: father, thou, we. 1 Kings 12:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Kings 12:4 · JPS 1917

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'Thy father made our yoke grievous; now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.'

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**Who acts:** father, thou, we · **What happens:** make, put, serve, service · **To what, where:** yoke, grievous service, heavy yoke, thee, father

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This is 1 Kings 12:4 · 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 (father, thou, we), 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:455
# text = 'Thy father made our yoke grievous; now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.'
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	_
2	Thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	yoke	yoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	grievous	grievous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
9	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
10	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
12	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	11	nsubj	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	grievous	grievous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	yoke	yoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
24	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	obj	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	_
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	lighter	light	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	15	xcomp	_	_
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
36	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	35	obj	_	_
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
38	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | Thy father | our yoke |  |  |  | grievous *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yoke=Product |
| 2 | **make** | infinitive | thou | the grievous service of thy father and father's heavy yoke |  |  | now | therefore *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset service=Product |
| 3 | **put** | past | father | father's heavy yoke |  |  |  | upon us | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme upon we=Destination |
| 4 | **serve** | future | we | thee |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Attribute |
| 5 | **service** |  |  | thy father |  |  |  |  | nom service «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}

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אָבִ֖יךָ הִקְשָׁ֣ה אֶת־עֻלֵּ֑נוּ וְאַתָּ֡ה עַתָּ֣ה הָקֵל֩ מֵעֲבֹדַ֨ת אָבִ֜יךָ הַקָּשָׁ֗ה וּמֵעֻלּ֧וֹ הַכָּבֵ֛ד אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥ן עָלֵ֖ינוּ וְנַעַבְדֶֽךָּ׃

[1 Kings 12:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1KI.12.4/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1KI:455` 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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