---
title: 2 Kings 6:21 (JPS 1917) — And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them: 'My fathe… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them: 'My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?' Who acts: king, Elisha, I. 2 Kings 6:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Kings 6:21 · JPS 1917

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And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them: 'My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?'

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**Who acts:** king, Elisha, I · **What happens:** say, see, smite · **To what, where:** chariots · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 2 Kings 6:21 · 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 (king, Elisha, I), 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:184
# text = And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them: 'My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Elisha	Elisha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
10	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	12	mark	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
15	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	21	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	21	vocative	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
19	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	smite	smite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
24	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	smite	smite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	parataxis	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	26	punct	_	_
29	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	26	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=q, indirect=0

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the king of Israel |  |  |  |  | unto Elisha | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **see** | past | Elisha | chariots *= chariot* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 3 | **smite** | shall | I | chariots *= chariot* |  |  |  | My father *vocative* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |
| 4 | **smite** | shall | I | chariots *= chariot* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |

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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}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר מֶֽלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ אֶל־אֱלִישָׁ֔ע כִּרְאֹת֖וֹ אוֹתָ֑ם הַאַכֶּ֥ה אַכֶּ֖ה אָבִֽי׃

[2 Kings 6:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2KI.6.21/)

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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:184` 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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