---
title: 2 Kings 6:25 (JPS 1917) — And there was a great famine in Samaria; and, behold, they besieged… · tree and pragmatics
description: And there was a great famine in Samaria; and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. Who acts: great famine, bands. 2 Kings 6:25 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# 2 Kings 6:25 · JPS 1917

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And there was a great famine in Samaria; and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.

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**Who acts:** great famine, bands · **What happens:** be, besiege, sell · **To what, where:** famine, head

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This is 2 Kings 6:25 · 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 (great famine, bands), 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:189
# text = And there was a great famine in Samaria; and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	famine	famine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Samaria	Samaria	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	15	discourse	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	besieged	besiege	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
19	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	ass	ass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	_
21	's	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	sold	sell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	advcl	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	fourscore	fourscore	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
27	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	fourth	fourth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	34	amod	_	_
34	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	kab	kab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
39	dove	dove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod:poss	_	_
40	's	's	PART	POS	_	39	case	_	_
41	dung	dung	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
42	for	for	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	44	nummod	_	_
44	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	_
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: pos
- teacher: changed act=narrate

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a great famine in Samaria |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **besiege** | past | bands *= band* | famine |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **sell** | past · passive |  | a ass's head |  |  |  | for fourscore pieces of silver; for five pieces of silver; the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung *obl* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: subject=Theme for piece=Asset |

<!-- .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}

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וַיְהִ֨י רָעָ֤ב גָּדוֹל֙ בְּשֹׁ֣מְר֔וֹן וְהִנֵּ֖ה צָרִ֣ים עָלֶ֑יהָ עַ֣ד הֱי֤וֹת רֹאשׁ־חֲמוֹר֙ בִּשְׁמֹנִ֣ים כֶּ֔סֶף וְרֹ֛בַע הַקַּ֥ב דִּבְיוֹנִ֖יםבַּחֲמִשָּׁה־כָֽסֶף׃

[2 Kings 6:25: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2KI.6.25/)

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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:189` 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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