---
title: 1 Samuel 31:4 (JPS 1917) — Then said Saul to his armour-bearer: 'Draw thy sword, and thrust me… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said Saul to his armour-bearer: 'Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and make a mock of me.' But his armour-bearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Who acts: Saul, uncircumcised. 1 Samuel 31:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tr
---

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# 1 Samuel 31:4 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then said Saul to his armour-bearer: 'Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and make a mock of me.' But his armour-bearer would not; for he was sore afraid.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Saul, uncircumcised · **What happens:** say, draw, thrust, come, thrust through, make · **To what, where:** sword, me, mock · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Samuel 31:4 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 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 (Saul, uncircumcised), 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:884
# text = Then said Saul to his armour-bearer: 'Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and make a mock of me.' But his armour-bearer would not; for he was sore afraid.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
6	armour	armour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	_
8	bearer	bearer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
10	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	_
11	Draw	draw	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
12	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	thrust	thrust	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
17	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	through	through	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	therewith	therewith	ADV	RB	_	16	obl	_	_
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
21	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	23	det	_	_
23	uncircumcised	uncircumcised	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	nsubj	_	_
24	come	come	VERB	VB	Mood=Sub|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	thrust	thrust	VERB	VB	Mood=Sub|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
27	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	through	through	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	_
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Sub|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	mock	mock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nmod	_	_
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
37	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
38	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
40	armour	armour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	compound	_	_
41	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	40	punct	_	_
42	bearer	bearer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
43	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
44	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
45	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	50	punct	_	_
46	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
49	sore	sore	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	advcl	_	_
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: command
- act: request
- 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 | Saul |  |  |  | then | to Saul's armour bearer | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to bearer=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 2 | **draw** | infinitive |  | thy sword |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme |
| 3 | **thrust** | infinitive |  | me |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 4 | **come** | infinitive | this uncircumcised |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **thrust through** | infinitive | this uncircumcised *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 6 | **make** | infinitive | this uncircumcised *not said here* | a mock of me |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset mock=Product |
| 7 | **is** | past | Saul |  |  |  |  | afraid, sore *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **mock** |  |  | me |  |  |  |  | nom mock «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שָׁאוּל֩ לְנֹשֵׂ֨א כֵלָ֜יו שְׁלֹ֥ף חַרְבְּךָ֣ ׀ וְדָקְרֵ֣נִי בָ֗הּ פֶּן־יָ֠בוֹאוּ הָעֲרֵלִ֨ים הָאֵ֤לֶּה וּדְקָרֻ֙נִי֙ וְהִתְעַלְּלוּ־בִ֔י וְלֹ֤א אָבָה֙ נֹשֵׂ֣א כֵלָ֔יו כִּ֥י יָרֵ֖א מְאֹ֑ד וַיִּקַּ֤ח שָׁאוּל֙ אֶת־הַחֶ֔רֶב וַיִּפֹּ֖ל עָלֶֽיהָ׃

[1 Samuel 31:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.31.4/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

<!-- .ens -->
1. **Then said Saul to his armour-bearer: 'Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and make a mock of me.' But his armour-bearer would not; for he was sore afraid.**
2. [Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell upon it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.885/)

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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:884` 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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<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [1 Samuel 31:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.883/)
- next →: [1 Samuel 31:4 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/1SA.885/)
- ↑ back to [1 Samuel 31:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1SA.31.4/)