---
title: 1 Samuel 20:8 (JPS 1917) — Therefore deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy se… · tree and pragmatics
description: Therefore deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee; but if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?' Who acts: you, thou, iniquity, LORD. 1 Samuel 20:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree an
---

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# 1 Samuel 20:8 · JPS 1917

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Therefore deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee; but if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?'

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**Who acts:** you, thou, iniquity, LORD · **What happens:** deal, bring, be, slay, covenant · **To what, where:** servant, covenant, me, father

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Samuel 20:8 · 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 (you, thou, iniquity, LORD), 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:583
# text = Therefore deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee; but if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?'
1	Therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	deal	deal	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	kindly	kindly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
8	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	11	nsubj	_	_
10	hast	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
12	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	into	into	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	covenant	covenant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	11	obl	_	_
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
24	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	26	expl	_	_
26	be	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Sub|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	_
29	iniquity	iniquity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
31	slay	slay	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
32	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	thyself	thyself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes|Style=Arch	31	obj	_	_
34	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
35	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
36	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	39	advmod	_	_
37	shouldest	should	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
38	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	39	nsubj	_	_
39	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
40	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
44	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
45	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deal** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with thy servant; kindly, therefore *property* | vn cope-83 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with servant=Theme |
| 2 | **bring** | present · perfect | thou | thy servant |  | a covenant of the LORD |  | with thee | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent servant=Theme into covenant=Destination |
| 3 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | iniquity |  |  | there |  | in me | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in i=Location |
| 4 | **slay** | infinitive | you *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **bring** | should | thou | me | thy father |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent i=Theme to father=Destination |
| 6 | **covenant** |  | the LORD |  |  |  |  |  | nom covenant «communication intransitive»: of=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 -->
וְעָשִׂ֤יתָ חֶ֙סֶד֙ עַל־עַבְדֶּ֔ךָ כִּ֚י בִּבְרִ֣ית יְהוָ֔ה הֵבֵ֥אתָ אֶֽת־עַבְדְּךָ֖ עִמָּ֑ךְ וְאִם־יֶשׁ־בִּ֤י עָוֺן֙ הֲמִיתֵ֣נִי אַ֔תָּה וְעַד־אָבִ֖יךָ לָמָּה־זֶּ֥ה תְבִיאֵֽנִי׃פ

[1 Samuel 20:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.20.8/)

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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:583` 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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