---
title: 2 Samuel 20:6 (JPS 1917) — And David said to Abishai: 'Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us m… · tree and pragmatics
description: And David said to Abishai: 'Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom; take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.' Who acts: David, Sheba, thou, our. 2 Samuel 20:6 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree an
---

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# 2 Samuel 20:6 · JPS 1917

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And David said to Abishai: 'Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom; take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.'

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**Who acts:** David, Sheba, thou, our · **What happens:** say, do, take, pursue, get, fortify · **To what, where:** Abishai, more harm, us, servants, fortified cities, Absalom · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 2 Samuel 20:6 · 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 (David, Sheba, thou, our), 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:607
# text = And David said to Abishai: 'Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom; take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities, and escape out of our sight.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	David	David	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	Abishai	Abishai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	_
8	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
9	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
10	Sheba	Sheba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Bichri	Bichri	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
16	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	18	amod	_	_
18	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
20	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
21	Absalom	Absalom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
23	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
24	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	23	nsubj	_	_
25	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	lord	lord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	's	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	pursue	pursue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
32	after	after	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	_
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	advcl	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	iobj	_	_
39	fortified	fortify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	amod	_	_
40	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obj	_	_
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	conj	_	_
44	out	out	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
49	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: warn
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=warn

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | David |  | Abishai |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to abishai=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | future | Sheba | more harm | us |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **take** | infinitive | thou | thy lord's servants |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent servant=Theme |
| 4 | **pursue** | infinitive | thou *not said here* |  |  |  | after Absalom |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent after he=Theme |
| 5 | **get** | infinitive | Sheba | fortified cities | Absalom |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary city=Theme |
| 6 | **fortify** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn equip-13.4.2-1-1 «NP.theme V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **escape** | infinitive | Sheba *not said here* |  |  | our sight |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme out sight=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **sight** |  | our |  |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר דָּוִד֙ אֶל־אֲבִישַׁ֔י עַתָּ֗ה יֵ֧רַֽע לָ֛נוּ שֶׁ֥בַע בֶּן־בִּכְרִ֖י מִן־אַבְשָׁל֑וֹם אַ֠תָּה קַ֞ח אֶת־עַבְדֵ֤י אֲדֹנֶ֙יךָ֙ וּרְדֹ֣ף אַחֲרָ֔יו פֶּן־מָ֥צָא ל֛וֹ עָרִ֥ים בְּצֻר֖וֹת וְהִצִּ֥יל עֵינֵֽנוּ׃

[2 Samuel 20:6: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.20.6/)

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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:607` 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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