---
title: 2 Kings 4:2 (JPS 1917) — And Elisha said unto her: 'What shall I do for thee? tell me; what h… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Elisha said unto her: 'What shall I do for thee? tell me; what hast thou in the house?' And she said: 'Thy handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.' Who acts: Elisha, I, thou, handmaid. 2 Kings 4:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Kings 4:2 · JPS 1917

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And Elisha said unto her: 'What shall I do for thee? tell me; what hast thou in the house?' And she said: 'Thy handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.'

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**Who acts:** Elisha, I, thou, handmaid · **What happens:** say, do, tell, have, not have · **To what, where:** me, house, thing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 2 Kings 4:2 · 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 (Elisha, I, thou, handmaid), 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:79
# text = And Elisha said unto her: 'What shall I do for thee? tell me; what hast thou in the house?' And she said: 'Thy handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Elisha	Elisha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	_
8	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	11	obj	_	_
9	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	11	obl	_	_
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
15	tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
16	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	19	obj	_	_
19	hast	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
20	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	19	nsubj	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
25	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
26	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
29	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
30	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	33	punct	_	_
31	Thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	handmaid	handmaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
33	hath	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	ccomp	_	_
34	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
35	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	36	det	_	_
36	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	save	save	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	oil	oil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	_
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	33	punct	_	_
47	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	33	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: offer
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed polarity=none

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Elisha |  |  |  |  | unto servant | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | shall | I |  |  |  |  | for thee | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 4 | **have** | present | thou |  |  | the house |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Patient |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Elisha |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **not** **have** | present | Thy handmaid | any thing |  | the house |  | save a pot of oil | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=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}

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וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֵלֶ֤יהָ אֱלִישָׁע֙ מָ֣ה אֶֽעֱשֶׂה־לָּ֔ךְ הַגִּ֣ידִי לִ֔י מַה־יֶּשׁ־לָ֖ךְ בַּבָּ֑יִת וַתֹּ֗אמֶר אֵ֣ין לְשִׁפְחָתְךָ֥ כֹל֙ בַּבַּ֔יִת כִּ֖י אִם־אָס֥וּךְ שָֽׁמֶן׃

[2 Kings 4:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2KI.4.2/)

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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:79` 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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