---
title: 1 Samuel 26:9 (JPS 1917) — And David said to Abishai: 'Destroy him not; for who can put forth h… · tree and pragmatics
description: And David said to Abishai: 'Destroy him not; for who can put forth his hand against the LORD'S anointed, and be guiltless?' Who acts: David. 1 Samuel 26:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Samuel 26:9 · JPS 1917

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And David said to Abishai: 'Destroy him not; for who can put forth his hand against the LORD'S anointed, and be guiltless?'

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**Who acts:** David · **What happens:** say, not destroy, put, be · **To what, where:** Abishai, David, hand, anointed · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 1 Samuel 26:9 · 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 (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:776
# text = And David said to Abishai: 'Destroy him not; for who can put forth his hand against the LORD'S anointed, and be guiltless?'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Abishai	Abishai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	_
8	Destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
16	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	against	against	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	'S	's	PART	POS	_	21	case	_	_
23	anointed	anointed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	cop	_	_
27	guiltless	guiltless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
28	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
29	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=decl, act=request, indirect=0

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | David |  | Abishai |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to abishai=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **destroy** | infinitive |  | David |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 3 | **put** | can |  | David's hand |  | the LORD's anointed |  | forth *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hand=Theme against anointed=Destination |
| 4 | **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | guiltless *property* | tree rules |

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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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וַיֹּ֧אמֶר דָּוִ֛ד אֶל־אֲבִישַׁ֖י אַל־תַּשְׁחִיתֵ֑הוּ כִּ֠י מִ֣י שָׁלַ֥ח יָד֛וֹ בִּמְשִׁ֥יחַ יְהוָ֖ה וְנִקָּֽה׃פ

[1 Samuel 26:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.26.9/)

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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:776` 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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