---
title: 1 Samuel 4:18 (JPS 1917) — And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he… · tree and pragmatics
description: And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died; for he was an old man, and heavy. Who acts: Eli, neck. 1 Samuel 4:18 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 4:18 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died; for he was an old man, and heavy.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Eli, neck · **What happens:** come, pass, make, fall, break, die · **To what, where:** slaughter, mention, seat, old man, ark

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Samuel 4:18 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 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 (Eli, neck), 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:1SA:115
# text = And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died; for he was an old man, and heavy.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	expl	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	9	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	mention	mention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	ark	ark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	off	off	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	seat	seat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	backward	backward	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
35	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	conj	_	_
40	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	_
41	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
44	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	_
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	conj	_	_
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 | **come** | past |  | slaughter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **make** | past | Eli | mention of the ark of God |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mention=Product |
| 4 | **fall** | past | Eli |  |  | Eli's seat |  | by the side of the gate; backward *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient from seat=Initial\_State by side=Extent |
| 5 | **break** | past | Eli's neck |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **die** | past | Eli |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 7 | **is a** | past | Eli | a old man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **be** |  | Eli *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **mention** |  |  | the ark of God |  |  |  |  | nom mention «communication 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 -->
וַיְהִ֞י כְּהַזְכִּיר֣וֹ ׀ אֶת־אֲר֣וֹן הָאֱלֹהִ֗ים וַיִּפֹּ֣ל מֵֽעַל־הַ֠כִּסֵּא אֲחֹ֨רַנִּ֜ית בְּעַ֣ד ׀ יַ֣ד הַשַּׁ֗עַר וַתִּשָּׁבֵ֤ר מַפְרַקְתּוֹ֙ וַיָּמֹ֔ת כִּֽי־זָקֵ֥ן הָאִ֖ישׁ וְכָבֵ֑ד וְה֛וּא שָׁפַ֥ט אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אַרְבָּעִ֥ים שָׁנָֽה׃

[1 Samuel 4:18: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.4.18/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

<!-- .ens -->
1. **And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died; for he was an old man, and heavy.**
2. [And he had judged Israel forty years.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.116/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1SA:115` 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 Samuel 4:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.114/)
- next →: [1 Samuel 4:18 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.116/)
- ↑ back to [1 Samuel 4:18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.4.18/)