---
title: 2 Kings 5:13 (JPS 1917) — And his servants came near, and spoke unto him, and said: 'My father… · tree and pragmatics
description: And his servants came near, and spoke unto him, and said: 'My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee: Wash, and be clean?' Who acts: servants, prophet, thou. 2 Kings 5:13 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tre
---

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# 2 Kings 5:13 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And his servants came near, and spoke unto him, and said: 'My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee: Wash, and be clean?'

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**Who acts:** servants, prophet, thou · **What happens:** come, speak, say, bid, do, not do · **To what, where:** thee, great thing, thing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 2 Kings 5:13 · 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 (servants, prophet, 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:2KI:142
# text = And his servants came near, and spoke unto him, and said: 'My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee: Wash, and be clean?'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	near	near	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
9	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
15	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	34	punct	_	_
16	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	vocative	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	prophet	prophet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	bid	bid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	34	advcl	_	_
24	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	23	obj	_	_
25	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	det	_	_
27	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
30	wouldest	would	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
31	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	34	nsubj	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
33	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	aux	_	_
34	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	34	punct	_	_
37	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	38	advmod	_	_
38	much	much	ADV	RB	_	34	parataxis	_	_
39	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	38	advmod	_	_
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
42	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	44	mark	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	saith	say	ADV	VBZ	PronType=Int	38	advmod	_	_
45	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	44	obl	_	_
47	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	48	punct	_	_
48	Wash	wash	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	44	ccomp	_	_
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
51	be	be	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	52	cop	_	_
52	clean	clean	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	conj	_	_
53	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	38	punct	_	_
54	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	34	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | Naaman's servants |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Naaman's servants *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unto Naaman | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Naaman's servants *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **bid** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | the prophet | thee |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **do** | infinitive | the prophet *not said here* | some great thing |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 6 | **not** **do** | would · perfect | thou | thing |  |  |  | My father *vocative* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 7 | **wash** | infinitive | thou *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **is** | infinitive | thou *not said here* |  |  |  |  | clean *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיִּגְּשׁ֣וּ עֲבָדָיו֮ וַיְדַבְּר֣וּ אֵלָיו֒ וַיֹּאמְר֗וּ אָבִי֙ דָּבָ֣ר גָּד֗וֹל הַנָּבִ֛יא דִּבֶּ֥ר אֵלֶ֖יךָ הֲל֣וֹא תַעֲשֶׂ֑ה וְאַ֛ף כִּֽי־אָמַ֥ר אֵלֶ֖יךָ רְחַ֥ץ וּטְהָֽר׃

[2 Kings 5:13: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2KI.5.13/)

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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:142` 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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