---
title: 1 Samuel 20:9 (JPS 1917) — And Jonathan said: 'Far be it from thee; for if I should at all know… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Jonathan said: 'Far be it from thee; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee? Who acts: Jonathan, servant, I, father. 1 Samuel 20:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 20:9 · JPS 1917

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And Jonathan said: 'Far be it from thee; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?

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**Who acts:** Jonathan, servant, I, father · **What happens:** say, be, know, determine, come, not tell · **To what, where:** thee, all, evil, servant · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 1 Samuel 20:9 · 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 (Jonathan, servant, I, father), 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:584
# text = And Jonathan said: 'Far be it from thee; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Jonathan	Jonathan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	_
6	Far	far	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	6	obl	_	_
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
15	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	obl	_	_
18	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	advcl	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	determined	determine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	ccomp	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
28	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	27	obl	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	35	advmod	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	35	obj	_	_
38	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Jonathan |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | infinitive | servant |  |  | thee |  | far *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** *a condition, not said to happen* | should | I |  |  | all |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **determine** | past · passive | my father | evil |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **come** | to-infinitive | my father *not said here* |  |  | thee |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon thou=Location |
| 6 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | would | I | thee | servant |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent it=Recipient thou=Topic |

<!-- .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}

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וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהוֹנָתָ֖ן חָלִ֣ילָה לָּ֑ךְ כִּ֣י ׀ אִם־יָדֹ֣עַ אֵדַ֗ע כִּֽי־כָלְתָ֨ה הָרָעָ֜ה מֵעִ֤ם אָבִי֙ לָב֣וֹא עָלֶ֔יךָ וְלֹ֥א אֹתָ֖הּ אַגִּ֥יד לָֽךְ׃ס

[1 Samuel 20:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.20.9/)

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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:584` 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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