---
title: 2 Samuel 18:21 (JPS 1917) — Then said Joab to the Cushite: 'Go tell the king what thou hast seen… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said Joab to the Cushite: 'Go tell the king what thou hast seen.' And the Cushite bowed down unto Joab, and ran. Who acts: Joab, thou, Cushite. 2 Samuel 18:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Samuel 18:21 · JPS 1917

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Then said Joab to the Cushite: 'Go tell the king what thou hast seen.' And the Cushite bowed down unto Joab, and ran.

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**Who acts:** Joab, thou, Cushite · **What happens:** say, go, tell, see, bow down, run · **To what, where:** king · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 2 Samuel 18:21 · 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 (Joab, thou, Cushite), 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:533
# text = Then said Joab to the Cushite: 'Go tell the king what thou hast seen.' And the Cushite bowed down unto Joab, and ran.
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	Joab	Joab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Cushite	Cushite	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
9	Go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
10	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	iobj	_	_
13	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	16	obj	_	_
14	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	16	nsubj	_	_
15	hast	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	ccomp	_	_
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
18	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
19	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	Cushite	Cushite	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	bowed	bow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
23	down	down	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
24	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	Joab	Joab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	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 | Joab |  |  |  | then | to the Cushite | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to cushite=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  | the king |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent king=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **see** | present · perfect | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 5 | **bow down** | past | the Cushite |  |  |  |  | unto Joab | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **run** | past | the Cushite *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יוֹאָב֙ לַכּוּשִׁ֔י לֵ֛ךְ הַגֵּ֥ד לַמֶּ֖לֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֣ר רָאִ֑יתָה וַיִּשְׁתַּ֧חוּ כוּשִׁ֛י לְיוֹאָ֖ב וַיָּרֹֽץ׃

[2 Samuel 18:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.18.21/)

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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:533` 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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