---
title: 2 Samuel 16:21 (JPS 1917) — And Ahithophel said unto Absalom: 'Go in unto thy father's concubine… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Ahithophel said unto Absalom: 'Go in unto thy father's concubines, that he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that thou art abhorred of thy father; then will the hands of all that are with thee be strong.' Who acts: Ahithophel, concubines, Israel, hands. 2 Samuel 16:21 in JPS 
---

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# 2 Samuel 16:21 · JPS 1917

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And Ahithophel said unto Absalom: 'Go in unto thy father's concubines, that he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that thou art abhorred of thy father; then will the hands of all that are with thee be strong.'

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**Who acts:** Ahithophel, concubines, Israel, hands · **What happens:** say, go in, leave, keep, hear, abhor · **To what, where:** concubines, house, thou · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 2 Samuel 16:21 · 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 (Ahithophel, concubines, Israel, hands), 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:478
# text = And Ahithophel said unto Absalom: 'Go in unto thy father's concubines, that he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that thou art abhorred of thy father; then will the hands of all that are with thee be strong.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Ahithophel	Ahithophel	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	Absalom	Absalom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	_
8	Go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	concubines	concubine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	obj	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	acl:relcl	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
27	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
28	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
31	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	art	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	abhorred	abhor	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	ccomp	_	_
34	of	of	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	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
37	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	49	punct	_	_
38	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	49	advmod	_	_
39	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	41	nmod	_	_
44	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	45	nsubj	_	_
45	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
46	with	with	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	43	acl:relcl	_	_
48	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	cop	_	_
49	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	conj	_	_
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
51	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Ahithophel |  |  |  |  | unto Absalom | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go in** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | unto thy father's concubines | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **leave** | present · perfect | Ahithophel | thy father's concubines |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **keep** | to-infinitive | thy father's concubines *not said here* | the house |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Theme |
| 5 | **hear** | future | all Israel |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **abhor** | present · passive |  | thou |  |  |  | of thy father | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 7 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | with thee | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | future | the hands of all |  |  |  | then | strong *property* | 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 -->
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲחִיתֹ֙פֶל֙ אֶל־אַבְשָׁלֹ֔ם בּ֚וֹא אֶל־פִּלַגְשֵׁ֣י אָבִ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הִנִּ֖יחַ לִשְׁמ֣וֹר הַבָּ֑יִת וְשָׁמַ֤ע כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ כִּֽי־נִבְאַ֣שְׁתָּ אֶת־אָבִ֔יךָ וְחָ֣זְק֔וּ יְדֵ֖י כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר אִתָּֽךְ׃

[2 Samuel 16:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.16.21/)

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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:478` 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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