---
title: 2 Samuel 12:16 (JPS 1917) — David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and as… · tree and pragmatics
description: David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and as often as he went in, he lay all night upon the earth. Who acts: David. 2 Samuel 12:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Samuel 12:16 · JPS 1917

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David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and as often as he went in, he lay all night upon the earth.

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**Who acts:** David · **What happens:** beseech, fast, go in, lie · **To what, where:** God, earth

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This is 2 Samuel 12:16 · 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 (David), 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:2SA:317
# text = David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and as often as he went in, he lay all night upon the earth.
1	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	besought	beseech	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	fasted	fast	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
14	as	as	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	often	often	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
19	in	in	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
23	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	det	_	_
24	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl:unmarked	_	_
25	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beseech** | past | David | God |  |  |  | for the child; therefore *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fast** | past | David |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go in** | past | David |  |  |  |  | often *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **lie** | past | David |  |  | the earth | night |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon earth=Location |

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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}

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וַיְבַקֵּ֥שׁ דָּוִ֛ד אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים בְּעַ֣ד הַנָּ֑עַר וַיָּ֤צָם דָּוִד֙ צ֔וֹם וּבָ֥א וְלָ֖ן וְשָׁכַ֥ב אָֽרְצָה׃

[2 Samuel 12:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.12.16/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:2SA:317` 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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