---
title: 1 Samuel 16:2 (JPS 1917) — And Samuel said: 'How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me.' A… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Samuel said: 'How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me.' And the LORD said: 'Take a heifer with thee, and say: I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. Who acts: Samuel, I, Saul, LORD. 1 Samuel 16:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 16:2 · JPS 1917

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And Samuel said: 'How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me.' And the LORD said: 'Take a heifer with thee, and say: I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.

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**Who acts:** Samuel, I, Saul, LORD · **What happens:** say, go, hear, kill, take, come · **To what, where:** horn, me, heifer, LORD · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 1 Samuel 16:2 · 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 (Samuel, I, Saul, LORD), 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:423
# text = And Samuel said: 'How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me.' And the LORD said: 'Take a heifer with thee, and say: I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Samuel	Samuel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
6	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
7	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	hear	hear	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
19	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
21	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
22	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
26	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
27	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	_
28	Take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	ccomp	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	heifer	heifer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	28	obl	_	_
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
36	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
37	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
39	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	ccomp	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	sacrifice	sacrifice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	xcomp	_	_
42	to	to	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=decl, act=narrate, polarity=none, voice=narrator

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Samuel |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | can | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **hear** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | Saul | horn |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 4 | **kill** | future | Saul | me |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the LORD |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **take** | infinitive |  |  | a heifer |  |  | with thee | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument heifer=Destination |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **come** | participle | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **sacrifice** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  | the LORD |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to lord=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל֙ אֵ֣יךְ אֵלֵ֔ךְ וְשָׁמַ֥ע שָׁא֖וּל וַהֲרָגָ֑נִיס וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהוָ֗ה עֶגְלַ֤ת בָּקָר֙ תִּקַּ֣ח בְּיָדֶ֔ךָ וְאָ֣מַרְתָּ֔ לִזְבֹּ֥חַ לַֽיהוָ֖ה בָּֽאתִי׃

[1 Samuel 16:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.16.2/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1SA:423` 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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