---
title: 1 Samuel 19:9 (JPS 1917) — And an evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his hou… · tree and pragmatics
description: And an evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand. Who acts: evil spirit, David. 1 Samuel 19:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 19:9 · JPS 1917

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And an evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand.

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**Who acts:** evil spirit, David · **What happens:** be, sit, play · **To what, where:** house

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This is 1 Samuel 19:9 · 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 (evil spirit, David), 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:557
# text = And an evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
2	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	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 | **is** | past | a evil spirit from the LORD |  |  |  |  | upon Saul | tree rules |
| 2 | **sit** | past | David |  |  | David's house |  | with David's spear in David's hand | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in house=Location |
| 3 | **play** | past · progressive | David |  |  |  |  | with David's hand | vn play-114.2-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with hand=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
וַתְּהִי֩ ר֨וּחַ יְהוָ֤ה ׀ רָעָה֙ אֶל־שָׁא֔וּל וְהוּא֙ בְּבֵית֣וֹ יוֹשֵׁ֔ב וַחֲנִית֖וֹ בְּיָד֑וֹ וְדָוִ֖ד מְנַגֵּ֥ן בְּיָֽד׃

[1 Samuel 19:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.19.9/)

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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:557` 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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