---
title: Judges 21:16 (JPS 1917) — Then the elders of the congregation said: 'How shall we do for wives… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the elders of the congregation said: 'How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?' Who acts: elders, we, wives. Judges 21:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Judges 21:16 · JPS 1917

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Then the elders of the congregation said: 'How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?'

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**Who acts:** elders, we, wives · **What happens:** say, do, remain, see, destroy · **To what, where:** women, Benjamin · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Judges 21:16 · 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 (elders, we, wives), 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:644
# text = Then the elders of the congregation said: 'How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	elders	elder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	congregation	congregation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
10	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
11	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nmod	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	remain	remain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	destroyed	destroy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	ccomp	_	_
26	out	out	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Benjamin	Benjamin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
30	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the elders of the congregation |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | shall | we |  |  |  |  | for wives for elders | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **remain** | present | wives for elders |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | gerund | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **destroy** | present · passive |  | the women |  | Benjamin |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

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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 -->
וַיֹּֽאמְר֨וּ זִקְנֵ֣י הָעֵדָ֔ה מַה־נַּעֲשֶׂ֥ה לַנּוֹתָרִ֖ים לְנָשִׁ֑ים כִּֽי־נִשְׁמְדָ֥ה מִבִּנְיָמִ֖ן אִשָּֽׁה׃

[Judges 21:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JDG.21.16/)

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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:644` 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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- ← previous: [Judges 21:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JDG.643/)
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- ↑ back to [Judges 21:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JDG.21.16/)