---
title: 2 Samuel 20:15 (JPS 1917) — And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast… · tree and pragmatics
description: And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood in the moat; and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. Who acts: people, mound. 2 Samuel 20:15 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# 2 Samuel 20:15 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood in the moat; and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** people, mound · **What happens:** come, besiege, cast up, stand, be, batter · **To what, where:** Amasa, Abel, mound, city, moat, wall

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 2 Samuel 20:15 · 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 (people, mound), 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:619
# text = And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood in the moat; and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	besieged	besiege	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Abel	Abel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Beth	Beth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	_
12	maacah	maacah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	flat	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	cast	cast	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
17	up	up	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	mound	mound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
20	against	against	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	moat	moat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
32	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	34	det:predet	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj	_	_
35	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
36	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
37	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	Joab	Joab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	acl:relcl	_	_
39	battered	batter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	advcl	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	down	down	ADP	RP	_	44	compound:prt	_	_
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **besiege** | past | people *not said here* | Amasa |  | Abel of Beth |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **cast up** | past | people | a mound |  | the city |  |  | vn throw-17.1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent mound=Theme against city=Destination |
| 4 | **stand** | past | mound |  |  | the moat |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in moat=Location |
| 5 | **is** | past | all people |  |  |  |  | with Joab | tree rules |
| 6 | **batter** | past | all people | the wall |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wall=Patient |
| 7 | **throw down** | to-infinitive | all people *not said here* | wall |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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 -->
וַיָּבֹ֜אוּ וַיָּצֻ֣רוּ עָלָ֗יו בְּאָבֵ֙לָה֙ בֵּ֣ית הַֽמַּעֲכָ֔האָבֵ֙לָה֙ בֵּ֣ית הַֽמַּעֲכָ֔ה אָבֵ֙לָה֙ בֵּ֣ית הַֽמַּעֲכָ֔ה אָבֵ֙לָה֙ בֵּ֣ית הַֽמַּעֲכָ֔ה וַיִּשְׁפְּכ֤וּ סֹֽלְלָה֙ אֶל־הָעִ֔יר וַֽתַּעֲמֹ֖ד בַּחֵ֑ל וְכָל־הָעָם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶת־יוֹאָ֔ב מַשְׁחִיתִ֖ם לְהַפִּ֥יל הַחוֹמָֽה׃

[2 Samuel 20:15: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.20.15/)

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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:619` 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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