---
title: 2 Kings 4:40 (JPS 1917) — And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they c… · tree and pragmatics
description: And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said: 'O man of God, there is death in the pot.' And they could not eat thereof. Who acts: pot, gourds, death. 2 Kings 4:40 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Kings 4:40 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2

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And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said: 'O man of God, there is death in the pot.' And they could not eat thereof.

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**Who acts:** pot, gourds, death · **What happens:** come, pass, eat, cry out, say, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 2 Kings 4:40 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 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 (pot, gourds, death), 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:2KI:124
# text = And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said: 'O man of God, there is death in the pot.' And they could not eat thereof.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	pottage	pottage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
18	out	out	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
22	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
23	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	_
24	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	25	discourse	_	_
25	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	vocative	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	30	expl	_	_
30	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	ccomp	_	_
31	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
36	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
37	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
39	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
40	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	41	advmod	_	_
41	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
42	thereof	thereof	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed form=decl, act=assert, polarity=neg

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | pot |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive | pot *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **eat** | past · progressive | gourds *= gourd* |  |  |  |  | of the pottage | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent of pottage=Source |
| 4 | **cry out** *speech: express* | past | gourds *= gourd* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | gourds *= gourd* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **be** | present | death in the pot |  |  | there |  | man of God *vocative* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **eat** | could | gourds *= gourd* |  |  |  |  | thereof *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «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 -->
וַיִּֽצְק֥וּ לַאֲנָשִׁ֖ים לֶאֱכ֑וֹל וַ֠יְהִי כְּאָכְלָ֨ם מֵהַנָּזִ֜יד וְהֵ֣מָּה צָעָ֗קוּ וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ מָ֤וֶת בַּסִּיר֙ אִ֣ישׁ הָאֱלֹהִ֔ים וְלֹ֥א יָכְל֖וּ לֶאֱכֹֽל׃

[2 Kings 4:40: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2KI.4.40/)

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

<!-- .ens -->
1. [So they poured out for the men to eat.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/2KI.123/)
2. **And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said: 'O man of God, there is death in the pot.' And they could not eat thereof.**

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:2KI:124` 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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