---
title: 1 Samuel 9:21 (JPS 1917) — And Saul answered and said: 'Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest o… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Saul answered and said: 'Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou to me after this manner?' Who acts: Saul, I, thou. 1 Samuel 9:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.221/)

<!-- 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 Samuel](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA/) / [chapter 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA/9/) / [9:21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.9.21/) / JPS 1

# 1 Samuel 9:21 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Saul answered and said: 'Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou to me after this manner?'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Saul, I, thou · **What happens:** answer, say, not be, speak · **To what, where:** Benjamite, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Samuel 9:21 · 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 (Saul, I, 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:1SA:221
# text = And Saul answered and said: 'Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou to me after this manner?'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	_
8	Am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Benjamite	Benjamite	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	smallest	small	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	12	nmod	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	tribes	tribe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	25	orphan	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	31	det:predet	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	families	family	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	tribe	tribe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	Benjamin	Benjamin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
37	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
38	wherefore	wherefore	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	40	advmod	_	_
39	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	40	advmod	_	_
40	speakest	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
41	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	40	nsubj	_	_
42	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	40	obl	_	_
44	after	after	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	46	det	_	_
46	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
47	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
48	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- indirect: yes
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Saul |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Saul *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **is a** | present | I | a Benjamite and my family |  |  |  | of the smallest of the tribes of Israel | tree rules |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | thou |  | me |  | after this manner; then | wherefore *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to i=Co-Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיַּ֨עַן שָׁא֜וּל וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הֲל֨וֹא בֶן־יְמִינִ֤י אָ֙נֹכִי֙ מִקַּטַנֵּי֙שִׁבְטֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וּמִשְׁפַּחְתִּי֙ הַצְּעִרָ֔ה מִכָּֽל־מִשְׁפְּח֖וֹת שִׁבְטֵ֣י בִנְיָמִ֑ן וְלָ֙מָּה֙ דִּבַּ֣רְתָּ אֵלַ֔י כַּדָּבָ֖ר הַזֶּֽה׃ס

[1 Samuel 9:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.9.21/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1SA:221` 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 9:20 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.220/)
- next →: [1 Samuel 9:22 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.222/)
- ↑ back to [1 Samuel 9:21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.9.21/)