---
title: 2 Samuel 3:17 (JPS 1917) — And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying: 'In t… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying: 'In times past ye sought for David to be king over you; Who acts: Abner, ye, David. 2 Samuel 3:17 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Samuel 3:17 · JPS 1917

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And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying: 'In times past ye sought for David to be king over you;

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**Who acts:** Abner, ye, David · **What happens:** have, say, seek, be · **To what, where:** communication, king · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 2 Samuel 3:17 · 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 (Abner, ye, David), 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:87
# text = And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying: 'In times past ye sought for David to be king over you;
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Abner	Abner	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	communication	communication	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	elders	elder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
13	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	_
14	In	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
16	past	past	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	nsubj	_	_
18	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
19	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	David	David	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	cop	_	_
23	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	xcomp	_	_
24	over	over	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nmod	_	_
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Abner | communication |  |  |  | with the elders of Israel | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent communication=Patient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Abner *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **seek** | past | ye |  |  |  | time |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | David | king |  |  |  | over you | 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}

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וּדְבַר־אַבְנֵ֣ר הָיָ֔ה עִם־זִקְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר גַּם־תְּמוֹל֙ גַּם־שִׁלְשֹׁ֔ם הֱיִיתֶ֞ם מְבַקְשִׁ֧ים אֶת־דָּוִ֛ד לְמֶ֖לֶךְ עֲלֵיכֶֽם׃

[2 Samuel 3:17: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.3.17/)

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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:87` 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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