---
title: 2 Samuel 23:17 (JPS 1917) — And he said: 'Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this; shal… · tree and pragmatics
description: And he said: 'Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this; shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?' therefore he would not drink it. Who acts: David, water, I, men. 2 Samuel 23:17 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/2SA.728/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Nevi'im](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/) / [2 Samuel](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA/) / [chapter 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA/23/) / [23:17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.23.17/) / JPS 1

# 2 Samuel 23:17 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And he said: 'Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this; shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?' therefore he would not drink it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** David, water, I, men · **What happens:** say, be, do, drink, go, not drink · **To what, where:** this, blood, jeopardy, water · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 2 Samuel 23:17 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 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, water, I, men), 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:728
# text = And he said: 'Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this; shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?' therefore he would not drink it.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	_
6	Be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	13	discourse	_	_
13	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	vocative	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
19	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	obj	_	_
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
29	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
30	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	jeopardy	jeopardy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	_
36	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
37	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
38	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
40	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	42	advmod	_	_
42	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
43	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obj	_	_
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | David |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | infinitive | water |  |  |  |  | from me; LORD *vocative*; far *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** | should | I | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Eventuality |
| 4 | **drink** | shall | I | the blood of the men |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blood=Patient |
| 5 | **go** | past | the men |  |  | jeopardy of Philistines's lives |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in jeopardy=Location |
| 6 | **not** **drink** | would | David | water |  |  |  | therefore *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֡אמֶר חָלִילָה֩ לִּ֨י יְהוָ֜ה מֵעֲשֹׂ֣תִי זֹ֗את הֲדַ֤ם הָֽאֲנָשִׁים֙ הַהֹלְכִ֣ים בְּנַפְשׁוֹתָ֔ם וְלֹ֥א אָבָ֖ה לִשְׁתּוֹתָ֑ם אֵ֣לֶּה עָשׂ֔וּ שְׁלֹ֖שֶׁת הַגִּבֹּרִֽים׃ס

[2 Samuel 23:17: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.23.17/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

<!-- .ens -->
1. **And he said: 'Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this; shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?' therefore he would not drink it.**
2. [These things did the three mighty men.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/2SA.729/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:2SA:728` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [2 Samuel 23:16 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/2SA.727/)
- next →: [2 Samuel 23:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/2SA.729/)
- ↑ back to [2 Samuel 23:17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.23.17/)