--- title: 1 Samuel 16:16 (JPS 1917) — Let our lord now command thy servants, that are before thee, to seek… · tree and pragmatics description: Let our lord now command thy servants, that are before thee, to seek out a man who is a skilful player on the harp; and it shall be, when the evil spirit from God cometh upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.' Who acts: lord, servants, man, evil spirit. 1 Samuel 16:16 i --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.444/) [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 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA/16/) / [16:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.16.16/) / JPS 1 # 1 Samuel 16:16 · JPS 1917 Let our lord now command thy servants, that are before thee, to seek out a man who is a skilful player on the harp; and it shall be, when the evil spirit from God cometh upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.' **Who acts:** lord, servants, man, evil spirit, thou · **What happens:** let, command, be, seek out, come, play · **To what, where:** servants, man, skilful player, harp · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is 1 Samuel 16:16 · 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 (lord, servants, man, evil spirit), 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:444 # text = Let our lord now command thy servants, that are before thee, to seek out a man who is a skilful player on the harp; and it shall be, when the evil spirit from God cometh upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.' 1 Let let VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 2 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 3 nmod:poss _ _ 3 lord lord NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 nsubj _ _ 4 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 5 advmod _ _ 5 command command VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 1 ccomp _ _ 6 thy thy PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 7 nmod:poss _ _ 7 servants servant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 obj _ _ 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 12 nsubj _ _ 10 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 12 cop _ _ 11 before before ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 12 thee thou PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 7 acl:relcl _ _ 13 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 seek seek VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 advcl _ _ 16 out out ADP RP _ 15 compound:prt _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 19 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 23 nsubj _ _ 20 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 cop _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 skilful skilful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 player player NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 acl:relcl _ _ 24 on on ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 harp harp NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nmod _ _ 27 ; ; PUNCT : _ 31 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 29 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 30 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 31 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 5 conj _ _ 32 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 33 when when SCONJ WRB _ 39 mark _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 35 evil evil ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 36 spirit spirit NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nsubj _ _ 37 from from ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 36 nmod _ _ 39 cometh come VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 31 advcl _ _ 40 upon upon ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 thee thou PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 39 obl _ _ 42 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 43 that that SCONJ IN _ 46 mark _ _ 44 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 45 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 46 aux _ _ 46 play play VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 ccomp _ _ 47 with with ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 49 nmod:poss _ _ 49 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ _ 50 , , PUNCT , _ 55 punct _ _ 51 and and CCONJ CC _ 55 cc _ _ 52 thou thou PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 55 nsubj _ _ 53 shalt shall AUX MD Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin 55 aux _ _ 54 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 55 cop _ _ 55 well well ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 conj _ _ 56 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _ 57 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 1 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: command - act: request - voice: character - polarity: none - teacher: changed polarity=none | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **let** | infinitive | our lord | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **command** | infinitive | our lord *not said here* | thy servants | | | now | | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent servant=Eventuality | | 3 | **is** | present | thy servants | | | | before thee | | tree rules | | 4 | **seek out** | to-infinitive | our lord *not said here* | a man | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Theme | | 5 | **is a** | present | a man | a skilful player | | the harp | | | tree rules | | 6 | **come** | present | the evil spirit from God | | | | | upon thee | tree rules | | 7 | **play** | shall | LORD | | | | | with LORD's hand | vn play-114.2-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with hand=Theme | | 8 | **is** | shall | thou | | | | | well *property* | tree rules | 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} יֹאמַר־נָ֤א אֲדֹנֵ֙נוּ֙ עֲבָדֶ֣יךָ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ יְבַקְשׁ֕וּ אִ֕ישׁ יֹדֵ֖עַ מְנַגֵּ֣ן בַּכִּנּ֑וֹר וְהָיָ֗ה בִּֽהְי֨וֹת עָלֶ֤יךָ רֽוּחַ־אֱלֹהִים֙ רָעָ֔ה וְנִגֵּ֥ן בְּיָד֖וֹ וְט֥וֹב לָֽךְ׃פ [1 Samuel 16:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.16.16/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1SA:444` 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. - ← previous: [1 Samuel 16:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.443/) - next →: [1 Samuel 16:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.445/) - ↑ back to [1 Samuel 16:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.16.16/)