---
title: 1 Samuel 29:8 (JPS 1917) — And David said unto Achish: 'But what have I done? and what hast tho… · tree and pragmatics
description: And David said unto Achish: 'But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been before thee unto this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?' Who acts: David, I, thou. 1 Samuel 29:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# 1 Samuel 29:8 · JPS 1917

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And David said unto Achish: 'But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been before thee unto this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?'

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**Who acts:** David, I, thou · **What happens:** say, do, find, be, not go, fight · **To what, where:** servant · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Samuel 29:8 · 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 (David, I, thou), 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:845
# text = And David said unto Achish: 'But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been before thee unto this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?'
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	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Achish	Achish	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	_
8	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	obj	_	_
10	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	obj	_	_
16	hast	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	nsubj	_	_
18	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	29	mark	_	_
23	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	22	fixed	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	fixed	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
26	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
27	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	29	cop	_	_
28	before	before	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	advcl	_	_
30	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	32	det	_	_
32	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
35	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
36	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
37	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
38	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	advcl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	conj	_	_
41	against	against	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	enemies	enemy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	lord	lord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	appos	_	_
49	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
50	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: disagree
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed act=disagree, indirect=1

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | David |  |  |  |  | unto Achish | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | present · perfect | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **find** | present · perfect | thou |  |  | thy servant |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 4 | **is** | present · perfect | I |  |  |  | before thee; day |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **go** | may | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **fight** | infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | against the enemies of my lord | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: 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 -->
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר דָּוִ֜ד אֶל־אָכִ֗ישׁ כִּ֣י מֶ֤ה עָשִׂ֙יתִי֙ וּמַה־מָּצָ֣אתָ בְעַבְדְּךָ֔ מִיּוֹם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר הָיִ֣יתִי לְפָנֶ֔יךָ עַ֖ד הַיּ֣וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה כִּ֣י לֹ֤א אָבוֹא֙ וְנִלְחַ֔מְתִּי בְּאֹיְבֵ֖י אֲדֹנִ֥י הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃

[1 Samuel 29:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.29.8/)

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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:845` 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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