---
title: 2 Samuel 16:20 (JPS 1917) — Then said Absalom to Ahithophel: 'Give your counsel what we shall do.' · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said Absalom to Ahithophel: 'Give your counsel what we shall do.' Who acts: Absalom, we. 2 Samuel 16:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Samuel 16:20 · JPS 1917

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Then said Absalom to Ahithophel: 'Give your counsel what we shall do.'

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**Who acts:** Absalom, we · **What happens:** say, give, do · **To what, where:** Ahithophel, counsel · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 2 Samuel 16:20 · 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 (Absalom, we), 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:477
# text = Then said Absalom to Ahithophel: 'Give your counsel what we shall do.'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	Absalom	Absalom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Ahithophel	Ahithophel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	_
8	Give	give	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
9	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	counsel	counsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	obj	_	_
12	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	acl	_	_
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
16	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Absalom |  | Ahithophel |  | then |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to ahithophel=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 2 | **give** | infinitive |  | your counsel |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent counsel=Theme |
| 3 | **do** | shall | we | your counsel |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

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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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וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אַבְשָׁל֖וֹם אֶל־אֲחִיתֹ֑פֶל הָב֥וּ לָכֶ֛ם עֵצָ֖ה מַֽה־נַּעֲשֶֽׂה׃

[2 Samuel 16:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.16.20/)

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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:477` 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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