---
title: 1 Samuel 16:23 (JPS 1917) — And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, th… · tree and pragmatics
description: And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took the harp, and played with his hand; so Saul found relief, and it was well with him, and the evil spirit departed from him. Who acts: favour, evil spirit, David, Saul. 1 Samuel 16:23 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree
---

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# 1 Samuel 16:23 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took the harp, and played with his hand; so Saul found relief, and it was well with him, and the evil spirit departed from him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** favour, evil spirit, David, Saul · **What happens:** come, pass, be, take, play, find · **To what, where:** harp, relief

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Samuel 16:23 · 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 (favour, evil spirit, David, Saul), 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:451
# text = And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took the harp, and played with his hand; so Saul found relief, and it was well with him, and the evil spirit departed from him.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
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	,	_	15	punct	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	15	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	advcl	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	harp	harp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
30	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
31	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
32	relief	relief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
37	well	well	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	conj	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	_
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
45	departed	depart	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
46	from	from	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obl	_	_
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- 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 | favour |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive | favour *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | the evil spirit from God |  |  |  |  | upon Saul | tree rules |
| 4 | **take** | past | David | the harp |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harp=Theme |
| 5 | **play** | past | David *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with David's hand | vn play-114.2-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with hand=Theme |
| 6 | **find** | past | Saul | relief |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent relief=Topic |
| 7 | **is** | past | favour |  |  |  |  | with David; well *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **depart** | past | the evil spirit |  |  |  |  | from David | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from he=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 -->
וְהָיָ֗ה בִּֽהְי֤וֹת רֽוּחַ־אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶל־שָׁא֔וּל וְלָקַ֥ח דָּוִ֛ד אֶת־הַכִּנּ֖וֹר וְנִגֵּ֣ן בְּיָד֑וֹ וְרָוַ֤ח לְשָׁאוּל֙ וְט֣וֹב ל֔וֹ וְסָ֥רָה מֵעָלָ֖יו ר֥וּחַ הָרָעָֽה׃פ

[1 Samuel 16:23: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.16.23/)

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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:451` 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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- ← previous: [1 Samuel 16:22 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.450/)
- next →: [1 Samuel 17:1 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.452/)
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