---
title: 2 Samuel 16:19 (JPS 1917) — And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence o… · tree and pragmatics
description: And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence.' Who acts: I. 2 Samuel 16:19 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Samuel 16:19 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** serve, not serve, be · **To what, where:** presence

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This is 2 Samuel 16:19 · 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 (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:2SA:476
# text = And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
2	again	again	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
4	whom	whom	PRON	WP	Case=Acc|PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
5	should	should	AUX	MD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	parataxis	_	_
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
9	should	should	AUX	MD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
25	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	's	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
30	so	so	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
31	will	will	AUX	MD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
33	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	cop	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	parataxis	_	_
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
38	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed act=ask, form=q, indirect=1

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **serve** | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whom=Attribute |
| 2 | **not** **serve** | should | I |  |  |  | again | in the presence of Absalom's son | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent in presence=Attribute |
| 3 | **serve** | present · perfect | I |  |  |  |  | in thy father's presence | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent in presence=Attribute |
| 4 | **is** | future | I |  |  | thy presence |  |  | 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 -->
וְהַשֵּׁנִ֗ית לְמִי֙ אֲנִ֣י אֶֽעֱבֹ֔ד הֲל֖וֹא לִפְנֵ֣י בְנ֑וֹ כַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר עָבַ֙דְתִּי֙ לִפְנֵ֣י אָבִ֔יךָ כֵּ֖ן אֶהְיֶ֥ה לְפָנֶֽיךָ׃פ

[2 Samuel 16:19: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.16.19/)

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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:476` 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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