---
title: 1 Samuel 19:20 (JPS 1917) — And Saul sent messengers to take David; and when they saw the compan… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Saul sent messengers to take David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. Who acts: Saul, messengers, company, Samuel. 1 Samuel 19:20 in JPS 1917 with its dep
---

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# 1 Samuel 19:20 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Saul sent messengers to take David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Saul, messengers, company, Samuel, spirit · **What happens:** send, take, see, prophesy, stand, come · **To what, where:** messengers, David, company

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Samuel 19:20 · 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 (Saul, messengers, company, Samuel), 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:569
# text = And Saul sent messengers to take David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
7	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
10	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	12	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	prophets	prophet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
18	prophesying	prophesy	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	xcomp	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	Samuel	Samuel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	conj	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
25	over	over	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	_
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
32	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
33	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	also	also	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	prophesied	prophesy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
43	.	.	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 | **send** | past | Saul | messengers |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme |
| 2 | **take** | to-infinitive | Saul *not said here* |  | David |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument david=Destination |
| 3 | **see** | past | messengers *= messenger* | the company of the prophets |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **prophesy** | gerund | the company of the prophets *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **stand** | gerund | Samuel |  |  |  |  | as head; over messengers *= messenger* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over they=Location |
| 6 | **come** | past | the spirit of God |  |  | the messengers of Saul |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon messenger=Location |
| 7 | **prophesy** | past | messengers *= messenger* |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיִּשְׁלַ֨ח שָׁא֣וּל מַלְאָכִים֮ לָקַ֣חַת אֶת־דָּוִד֒ וַיַּ֗רְא אֶֽת־לַהֲקַ֤ת הַנְּבִיאִים֙ נִבְּאִ֔ים וּשְׁמוּאֵ֕ל עֹמֵ֥ד נִצָּ֖ב עֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וַתְּהִ֞י עַֽל־מַלְאֲכֵ֤י שָׁאוּל֙ ר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים וַיִּֽתְנַבְּא֖וּ גַּם־הֵֽמָּה׃

[1 Samuel 19:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.19.20/)

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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:569` 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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