---
title: Judges 20:42 (JPS 1917) — Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the… · tree and pragmatics
description: Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and they that came out of the city destroyed them in the midst of the men of Israel. Who acts: Benjamites, battle. Judges 20:42 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and
---

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# Judges 20:42 · JPS 1917

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Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and they that came out of the city destroyed them in the midst of the men of Israel.

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**Who acts:** Benjamites, battle · **What happens:** turn, follow, come out, destroy · **To what, where:** backs, city, midst

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Judges 20:42 · 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 (Benjamites, battle), 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:622
# text = Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and they that came out of the city destroyed them in the midst of the men of Israel.
1	Therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	before	before	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	wilderness	wilderness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
22	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	21	advmod	_	_
23	after	after	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	_
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
29	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	_
30	out	out	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	destroyed	destroy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	midst	midst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 | **turn** | past | Benjamites *= benjamite* | Benjamites's backs |  |  | before the men of Israel | unto the way of the wilderness; therefore *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent back=Theme |
| 2 | **follow** | past | the battle |  |  |  | after Benjamites *= benjamite* | hard *property* | vn chase-51.6 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent after they=Theme |
| 3 | **come out** | past |  | the city |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient city=Result |
| 4 | **destroy** | past | Benjamites *= benjamite* | backs *= back* |  | the midst of the men of Israel |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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 -->
וַיִּפְנ֞וּ לִפְנֵ֨י אִ֤ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ אֶל־דֶּ֣רֶךְ הַמִּדְבָּ֔ר וְהַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה הִדְבִּיקָ֑תְהוּ וַאֲשֶׁר֙ מֵהֶ֣עָרִ֔ים מַשְׁחִיתִ֥ים אוֹת֖וֹ בְּתוֹכֽוֹ׃

[Judges 20:42: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JDG.20.42/)

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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:622` 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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