---
title: 2 Samuel 2:18 (JPS 1917) — And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asa… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel; and Asahel was as light of foot as one of the roes that are in the field. Who acts: three sons, Asahel, roes. 2 Samuel 2:18 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Samuel 2:18 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel; and Asahel was as light of foot as one of the roes that are in the field.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** three sons, Asahel, roes · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** field

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 2 Samuel 2:18 · 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 (three sons, Asahel, roes), 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:52
# text = And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel; and Asahel was as light of foot as one of the roes that are in the field.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Zeruiah	Zeruiah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	Joab	Joab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	Abishai	Abishai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	Asahel	Asahel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	Asahel	Asahel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	as	as	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	light	light	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
25	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumType=Card	22	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	roes	roe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nmod	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
31	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	acl:relcl	_	_
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the three sons of Zeruiah |  |  |  |  | there *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | Asahel |  |  |  |  | of foot; as one of the roes; light *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | the roes |  |  | the field |  |  | 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 -->
וַיִּֽהְיוּ־שָׁ֗ם שְׁלֹשָׁה֙ בְּנֵ֣י צְרוּיָ֔ה יוֹאָ֥ב וַאֲבִישַׁ֖י וַעֲשָׂהאֵ֑ל וַעֲשָׂהאֵל֙ קַ֣ל בְּרַגְלָ֔יו כְּאַחַ֥ד הַצְּבָיִ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר בַּשָּׂדֶֽה׃

[2 Samuel 2:18: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.2.18/)

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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:52` 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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- ← previous: [2 Samuel 2:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/2SA.51/)
- next →: [2 Samuel 2:19 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/2SA.53/)
- ↑ back to [2 Samuel 2:18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.2.18/)