---
title: 2 Samuel 2:22 (JPS 1917) — And Abner said again to Asahel: 'Turn thee aside from following me;… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Abner said again to Asahel: 'Turn thee aside from following me; wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?' Who acts: Abner, I. 2 Samuel 2:22 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Samuel 2:22 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Abner said again to Asahel: 'Turn thee aside from following me; wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?'

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**Who acts:** Abner, I · **What happens:** say, turn, follow, smite, hold up · **To what, where:** Asahel, thee, me, face, Joab · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 2 Samuel 2:22 · 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, I), 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:56
# text = And Abner said again to Asahel: 'Turn thee aside from following me; wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?'
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	again	again	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Asahel	Asahel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
9	Turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
10	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	9	obj	_	_
11	aside	aside	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	following	follow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
16	wherefore	wherefore	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
17	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	smite	smite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
20	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
25	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	26	advmod	_	_
26	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	29	advmod	_	_
27	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
30	up	up	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
31	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	Joab	Joab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
35	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	appos	_	_
37	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	_
38	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed act=request

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Abner |  | Asahel |  | again |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to asahel=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 2 | **turn** | infinitive |  | thee |  |  |  | aside *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent thou=Theme |
| 3 | **follow** | gerund |  | me |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 4 | **smite** | should | I | thee |  |  |  | to the ground *result*; wherefore *property* | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent thou=Patient to ground=Result |
| 5 | **hold up** | should | I | my face | Joab |  | then |  | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot face=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 -->
וַיֹּ֧סֶף ע֣וֹד אַבְנֵ֗ר לֵאמֹר֙ אֶל־עֲשָׂהאֵ֔ל ס֥וּר לְךָ֖ מֵאַֽחֲרָ֑י לָ֤מָּה אַכֶּ֙כָּה֙ אַ֔רְצָה וְאֵיךְ֙ אֶשָּׂ֣א פָנַ֔י אֶל־יוֹאָ֖ב אָחִֽיךָ׃

[2 Samuel 2:22: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.2.22/)

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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:56` 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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