---
title: 2 Samuel 18:8 (JPS 1917) — For the battle was there spread over the face of all the country; an… · tree and pragmatics
description: For the battle was there spread over the face of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. Who acts: forest, sword. 2 Samuel 18:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Samuel 18:8 · JPS 1917

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For the battle was there spread over the face of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

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**Who acts:** forest, sword · **What happens:** spread, devour · **To what, where:** battle, face, more people

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This is 2 Samuel 18:8 · 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 (forest, sword), 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:519
# text = For the battle was there spread over the face of all the country; and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	over	over	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	13	det:predet	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	devoured	devour	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
19	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	20	amod	_	_
20	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	det	_	_
22	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	_
23	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	devoured	devour	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=decl

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | past · passive |  | the battle |  | the face of all country; there |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme over face=Destination |
| 2 | **devour** | past | the forest | more people |  |  | day |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Patient |
| 3 | **devour** | past | the sword |  |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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וַתְּהִי־שָׁ֧ם הַמִּלְחָמָ֛ה נָפֹ֖צֶתעַל־פְּנֵ֣י כָל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַיֶּ֤רֶב הַיַּ֙עַר֙ לֶאֱכֹ֣ל בָּעָ֔ם מֵאֲשֶׁ֥ר אָכְלָ֛ה הַחֶ֖רֶב בַּיּ֥וֹם הַהֽוּא׃

[2 Samuel 18:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.18.8/)

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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:519` 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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