---
title: 1 Samuel 23:3 (JPS 1917) — And David's men said unto him: 'Behold, we are afraid here in Judah;… · tree and pragmatics
description: And David's men said unto him: 'Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?' Who acts: men, we. 1 Samuel 23:3 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 23:3 · JPS 1917

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And David's men said unto him: 'Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?'

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**Who acts:** men, we · **What happens:** say, be, go · **To what, where:** Judah, Keilah · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 1 Samuel 23:3 · 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 (men, we), 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:662
# text = And David's men said unto him: 'Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	_
10	Behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	14	discourse	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
15	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Judah	Judah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
19	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
20	much	much	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	parataxis	_	_
22	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	25	advmod	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	Keilah	Keilah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
28	against	against	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	armies	army	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	Philistines	philistine	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	_
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
35	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- 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's men |  |  |  |  | unto David | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | we |  |  | Judah; here |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | we |  |  | Keilah | then | against the armies of the Philistines | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to keilah=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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וַיֹּ֨אמְר֜וּ אַנְשֵׁ֤י דָוִד֙ אֵלָ֔יו הִנֵּ֨ה אֲנַ֥חְנוּ פֹ֛ה בִּֽיהוּדָ֖ה יְרֵאִ֑ים וְאַף֙ כִּֽי־נֵלֵ֣ךְ קְעִלָ֔ה אֶל־מַֽעַרְכ֖וֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּֽים׃ס

[1 Samuel 23:3: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.23.3/)

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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:662` 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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