---
title: 2 Samuel 18:29 (JPS 1917) — And the king said: 'Is it well with the young man Absalom?' And Ahim… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the king said: 'Is it well with the young man Absalom?' And Ahimaaz answered: 'When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.' Who acts: king, hand, Ahimaaz, Joab. 2 Samuel 18:29 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# 2 Samuel 18:29 · JPS 1917

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And the king said: 'Is it well with the young man Absalom?' And Ahimaaz answered: 'When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.'

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**Who acts:** king, hand, Ahimaaz, Joab, me, I · **What happens:** say, be, answer, send, servant, see · **To what, where:** servant, great tumult · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 2 Samuel 18:29 · 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 (king, hand, Ahimaaz, Joab), 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:542
# text = And the king said: 'Is it well with the young man Absalom?' And Ahimaaz answered: 'When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
6	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
7	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
14	Absalom	Absalom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	appos	_	_
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
16	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
17	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	Ahimaaz	Ahimaaz	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
20	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	_
21	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	36	punct	_	_
22	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	24	mark	_	_
23	Joab	Joab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	advcl	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	's	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
31	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	_
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	ccomp	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	tumult	tumult	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	conj	_	_
44	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
45	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	43	ccomp	_	_
46	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
47	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
49	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: pos
- teacher: changed act=ask

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the king |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | hand |  |  |  |  | with the young man; well *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Ahimaaz |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **send** | past | Joab | the king's servant and thy servant |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent servant=Theme |
| 5 | **servant** |  | me |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **see** | past | I | a great tumult |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tumult=Stimulus |
| 7 | **not** **know** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **is a** | past | hand |  |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ שָׁל֥וֹם לַנַּ֖עַר לְאַבְשָׁל֑וֹם וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲחִימַ֡עַץ רָאִיתִי֩ הֶהָמ֨וֹן הַגָּד֜וֹל לִ֠שְׁלֹחַ אֶת־עֶ֨בֶד הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ יוֹאָב֙ וְאֶת־עַבְדֶּ֔ךָ וְלֹ֥א יָדַ֖עְתִּי מָֽה׃

[2 Samuel 18:29: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.18.29/)

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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:542` 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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