---
title: 1 Samuel 17:34 (JPS 1917) — And David said unto Saul: 'Thy servant kept his father's sheep; and… · tree and pragmatics
description: And David said unto Saul: 'Thy servant kept his father's sheep; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, Who acts: David, servant, lion. 1 Samuel 17:34 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 17:34 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And David said unto Saul: 'Thy servant kept his father's sheep; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock,

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** David, servant, lion · **What happens:** say, keep, come, take · **To what, where:** sheep, lamb · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Samuel 17:34 · 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 (David, servant, lion), 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:487
# text = And David said unto Saul: 'Thy servant kept his father's sheep; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock,
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
8	Thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	19	mark	_	_
18	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	19	expl	_	_
19	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	lamb	lamb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	out	out	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | David |  |  |  |  | unto Saul | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **keep** | past | Thy servant | David's father's sheep |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sheep=Theme |
| 3 | **come** | past | a lion or a bear |  |  | there |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **take** | past | a lion or a bear *not said here* |  | a lamb |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument lamb=Destination |

<!-- .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 דָּוִד֙ אֶל־שָׁא֔וּל רֹעֶ֨ה הָיָ֧ה עַבְדְּךָ֛ לְאָבִ֖יו בַּצֹּ֑אן וּבָ֤א הָֽאֲרִי֙ וְאֶת־הַדּ֔וֹב וְנָשָׂ֥א שֶׂ֖ה מֵהָעֵֽדֶר׃

[1 Samuel 17:34: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.17.34/)

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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:487` 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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