---
title: 2 Samuel 21:7 (JPS 1917) — But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Sau… · tree and pragmatics
description: But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD'S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. Who acts: king, oath. 2 Samuel 21:7 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Samuel 21:7 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD'S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** king, oath · **What happens:** spare, be · **To what, where:** Mephibosheth

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 2 Samuel 21:7 · 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, oath), 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:641
# text = But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD'S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
1	But	but	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	spared	spare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	Mephibosheth	Mephibosheth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Jonathan	Jonathan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
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	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	because	because	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	21	case	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	fixed	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	'S	's	PART	POS	_	19	case	_	_
21	oath	oath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	between	between	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	acl:relcl	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	between	between	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	Jonathan	Jonathan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	appos	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	Saul	Saul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	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 | **spare** | past | the king | Mephibosheth |  |  |  | because the LORD's oath between David and Jonathan | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent mephibosheth=Asset |
| 2 | **is** | past | the LORD's oath between David and Jonathan |  |  |  |  | between Saul | 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 -->
וַיַּחְמֹ֣ל הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ עַל־מְפִי־בֹ֖שֶׁתמְפִי־בֹ֖שֶׁת בֶּן־יְהוֹנָתָ֣ן בֶּן־שָׁא֑וּל עַל־שְׁבֻעַ֤ת יְהוָה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בֵּֽינֹתָ֔ם בֵּ֣ין דָּוִ֔ד וּבֵ֖ין יְהוֹנָתָ֥ן בֶּן־שָׁאֽוּל׃

[2 Samuel 21:7: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.21.7/)

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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:641` 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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