---
title: 1 Kings 20:23 (JPS 1917) — And the servants of the king of Aram said unto him: 'Their God is a… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the servants of the king of Aram said unto him: 'Their God is a God of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. Who acts: servants, God, gods, us. 1 Kings 20:23 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1KI.749/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Nevi'im](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/) / [1 Kings](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1KI/) / [chapter 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1KI/20/) / [20:23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1KI.20.23/) / JPS 1

# 1 Kings 20:23 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the servants of the king of Aram said unto him: 'Their God is a God of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** servants, God, gods, us, we · **What happens:** say, be, let, fight · **To what, where:** God, us, plain · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Kings 20:23 · 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 (servants, God, gods, us), 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:749
# text = And the servants of the king of Aram said unto him: 'Their God is a God of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Aram	Aram	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
13	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	_
14	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	God	God	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	God	God	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	ccomp	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
23	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	stronger	strong	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	18	parataxis	_	_
27	than	than	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	_
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
30	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	parataxis	_	_
32	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	against	against	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	plain	plain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
41	surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
42	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
43	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
44	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	cop	_	_
45	stronger	strong	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	31	conj	_	_
46	than	than	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obl	_	_
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: suggest
- voice: character
- polarity: pos
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the servants of the king of Aram |  |  |  |  | unto king | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | servants's God | a God |  |  |  | of the hills | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | gods *= god* |  |  |  |  | than we; strong, therefore *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **let** | infinitive |  | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fight** | infinitive | us *not said here* |  |  | the plain |  | against servants *= servant* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | shall | we |  |  |  |  | than servants *= servant*; strong, surely *property* | 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 -->
וְעַבְדֵ֨י מֶֽלֶךְ־אֲרָ֜ם אָמְר֣וּ אֵלָ֗יו אֱלֹהֵ֤י הָרִים֙ אֱלֹ֣הֵיהֶ֔ם עַל־כֵּ֖ן חָזְק֣וּ מִמֶּ֑נּוּ וְאוּלָ֗ם נִלָּחֵ֤ם אִתָּם֙ בַּמִּישׁ֔וֹר אִם־לֹ֥א נֶחֱזַ֖ק מֵהֶֽם׃

[1 Kings 20:23: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1KI.20.23/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1KI:749` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [1 Kings 20:22 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1KI.748/)
- next →: [1 Kings 20:24 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1KI.750/)
- ↑ back to [1 Kings 20:23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1KI.20.23/)