---
title: 2 Samuel 23:21 (JPS 1917) — and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man; and the Egyptian had a spear… · tree and pragmatics
description: and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man; and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear. Who acts: Benaiah, Egyptian. 2 Samuel 23:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# 2 Samuel 23:21 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man; and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Benaiah, Egyptian · **What happens:** slay, have, go down, pluck · **To what, where:** Egyptian, spear, hand, man, Benaiah

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 2 Samuel 23:21 · 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 (Benaiah, Egyptian), 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:734
# text = and he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man; and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.
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	slew	slay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Egyptian	Egyptian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obj	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	goodly	goodly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Egyptian	Egyptian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
24	down	down	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	plucked	pluck	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	out	out	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	Egyptian	Egyptian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	nmod:poss	_	_
39	's	's	PART	POS	_	38	case	_	_
40	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	slew	slay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
44	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	_
45	with	with	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
46	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
47	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=narrate

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slay** | past | Benaiah | a Egyptian |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egyptian=Patient |
| 2 | **have** | past | the Egyptian | a spear |  | Benaiah's hand |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spear=Patient |
| 3 | **go down** | past | Benaiah |  | man |  |  | with a staff; down *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **pluck** | past | Benaiah *not said here* | the spear |  | the Egyptian's hand |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent spear=Theme out hand=Source |
| 5 | **slay** | past | Benaiah *not said here* | Benaiah |  |  |  | with Benaiah's own spear | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Patient with spear=Instrument |

<!-- .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 -->
וְהוּא־הִכָּה֩ אֶת־אִ֨ישׁ מִצְרִ֜י אִ֣ישׁ מַרְאֶ֗ה וּבְיַ֤ד הַמִּצְרִי֙ חֲנִ֔ית וַיֵּ֥רֶד אֵלָ֖יו בַּשָּׁ֑בֶט וַיִּגְזֹ֤ל אֶֽת־הַחֲנִית֙ מִיַּ֣ד הַמִּצְרִ֔י וַיַּהַרְגֵ֖הוּ בַּחֲנִיתֽוֹ׃

[2 Samuel 23:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.23.21/)

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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:734` 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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