---
title: 1 Kings 12:7 (JPS 1917) — And they spoke unto him, saying: 'If thou wilt be a servant unto thi… · tree and pragmatics
description: And they spoke unto him, saying: 'If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.' Who acts: people, thou. 1 Kings 12:7 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# 1 Kings 12:7 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And they spoke unto him, saying: 'If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** people, thou · **What happens:** speak, say, be, serve, answer · **To what, where:** servant, people, good words, servants · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Kings 12:7 · 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 (people, thou), 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:458
# text = And they spoke unto him, saying: 'If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	_
10	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	15	nsubj	_	_
12	wilt	will	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	cop	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	advcl	_	_
16	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
18	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
19	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	det	_	_
20	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl:unmarked	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	wilt	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
33	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	_
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
38	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	43	advmod	_	_
39	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
40	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
41	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	cop	_	_
42	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	ccomp	_	_
44	for	for	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	43	advmod	_	_
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
47	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: promise
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed act=promise

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | people |  |  |  |  | unto father | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | future | thou | a servant |  |  | day | unto this people | tree rules |
| 4 | **serve** | future | thou *not said here* | people |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Attribute |
| 5 | **answer** *speech: assert* | infinitive | thou *not said here* |  | people |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality |
| 6 | **speak** *speech: other* | infinitive | thou *not said here* | good words | people |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **is a** | future | people | thy servants |  |  | then |  | 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 -->
וַיְדַבְּר֨וּאֵלָ֜יו לֵאמֹ֗ר אִם־הַ֠יּוֹם תִּֽהְיֶה־עֶ֜בֶד לָעָ֤ם הַזֶּה֙ וַֽעֲבַדְתָּ֔ם וַעֲנִיתָ֕ם וְדִבַּרְתָּ֥ אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם דְּבָרִ֣ים טוֹבִ֑ים וְהָי֥וּ לְךָ֛ עֲבָדִ֖ים כָּל־הַיָּמִֽים׃

[1 Kings 12:7: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1KI.12.7/)

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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:458` 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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