---
title: 2 Samuel 2:21 (JPS 1917) — And Abner said to him: 'Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Abner said to him: 'Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour.' But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. Who acts: Abner, Asahel. 2 Samuel 2:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# 2 Samuel 2:21 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Abner said to him: 'Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour.' But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Abner, Asahel · **What happens:** say, turn, lay, take, not turn, follow · **To what, where:** Asahel, thee, right hand, armour, Abner · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 2 Samuel 2:21 · 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 (Abner, Asahel), 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:55
# text = And Abner said to him: 'Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour.' But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Abner	Abner	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	_
8	Turn	turn	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	8	obj	_	_
10	aside	aside	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	left	left	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	lay	lay	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
22	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	21	obj	_	_
23	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nmod	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
33	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	32	iobj	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	armour	armour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
37	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
38	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
39	Asahel	Asahel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
40	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	42	advmod	_	_
42	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
43	aside	aside	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
44	from	from	ADP	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
45	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	advcl	_	_
46	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obj	_	_
47	.	.	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 | Abner |  | Asahel |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to he=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 2 | **turn** | infinitive |  | thee |  | thy right hand or thy left |  | aside *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent thou=Theme to hand=Trajectory |
| 3 | **lay** | infinitive |  | thee |  |  |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent thou=Theme hold=Destination |
| 4 | **take** | infinitive |  | Abner's armour | thee |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument thou=Theme armour=Destination |
| 5 | **not** **turn** | would | Asahel |  |  |  |  | aside *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **follow** | gerund | Asahel *not said here* | Abner |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
וַיֹּ֧אמֶר ל֣וֹ אַבְנֵ֗ר נְטֵ֤ה לְךָ֙ עַל־יְמִֽינְךָ֙ א֣וֹ עַל־שְׂמֹאלֶ֔ךָ וֶאֱחֹ֣ז לְךָ֗ אֶחָד֙ מֵֽהַנְּעָרִ֔ים וְקַח־לְךָ֖ אֶת־חֲלִצָת֑וֹ וְלֹֽא־אָבָ֣ה עֲשָׂהאֵ֔ל לָס֖וּר מֵאַחֲרָֽיו׃

[2 Samuel 2:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.2.21/)

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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:55` 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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