---
title: Judges 9:20 (JPS 1917) — But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of… · tree and pragmatics
description: But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from Beth-millo, and devour Abimelech.' Who acts: you, fire. Judges 9:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Judges 9:20 · JPS 1917

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But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from Beth-millo, and devour Abimelech.'

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**Who acts:** you, fire · **What happens:** let, come out, devour · **To what, where:** fire, Abimelech, men

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This is Judges 9:20 · 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 (you, fire), 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:JDG:280
# text = But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from Beth-millo, and devour Abimelech.'
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
3	not	not	ADV	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advcl	_	_
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	out	out	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Abimelech	Abimelech	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	devour	devour	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Shechem	Shechem	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	Beth	Beth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	_
22	millo	millo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
26	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
27	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	out	out	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
29	from	from	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	Shechem	Shechem	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
36	from	from	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	Beth	Beth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	_
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	39	punct	_	_
39	millo	millo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	_
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	devour	devour	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
43	Abimelech	Abimelech	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
45	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=imp, act=request, voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | imperative | you *not said here* | fire |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **come out** | infinitive | fire *not said here* |  |  | Abimelech |  | out *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **devour** | infinitive | fire *not said here* | the men of Shechem and Beth millo |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |
| 4 | **let** | infinitive | you *not said here* | fire |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **come out** | infinitive | fire *not said here* |  |  |  |  | from the men of Shechem and Beth millo; out *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **devour** | infinitive | fire *not said here* | Abimelech |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent abimelech=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 -->
וְאִם־אַ֕יִן תֵּ֤צֵא אֵשׁ֙ מֵאֲבִימֶ֔לֶךְ וְתֹאכַ֛ל אֶת־בַּעֲלֵ֥י שְׁכֶ֖ם וְאֶת־בֵּ֣ית מִלּ֑וֹא בֵּ֣ית מִלּ֑וֹא וְתֵצֵ֨א אֵ֜שׁ מִבַּעֲלֵ֤י שְׁכֶם֙ וּמִבֵּ֣ית מִלּ֔וֹא בֵּ֣ית מִלּ֔וֹא וְתֹאכַ֖ל אֶת־אֲבִימֶֽלֶךְ׃

[Judges 9:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JDG.9.20/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JDG:280` 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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