---
title: Jonah 4:2 (JPS 1917) — And he prayed unto the LORD, and said: 'I pray Thee, O LORD, was not… · tree and pragmatics
description: And he prayed unto the LORD, and said: 'I pray Thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in mine own country? Who acts: Jonah, I, this. Jonah 4:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Jonah 4:2 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And he prayed unto the LORD, and said: 'I pray Thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in mine own country?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Jonah, I, this · **What happens:** pray, say, not be, be · **To what, where:** Thee, saying, own country · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Jonah 4:2 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 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 (Jonah, I, this), 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:JON:41
# text = And he prayed unto the LORD, and said: 'I pray Thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in mine own country?
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	prayed	pray	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
11	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
14	Thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	obj	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	17	discourse	_	_
17	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	vocative	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
21	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nsubj	_	_
22	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	parataxis	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
25	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	32	mark	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
28	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	mine	mine	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	advcl	_	_
33	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed act=ask

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pray** | past | Jonah |  |  |  |  | unto the LORD | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Jonah *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **pray** | present | I | Thee |  |  |  | LORD *vocative* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **is a** | past | this | my saying |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | I |  |  | mine own country | yet |  | 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}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
וַיִּתְפַּלֵּ֨ל אֶל־יְהוָ֜ה וַיֹּאמַ֗ר אָנָּ֤ה יְהוָה֙ הֲלוֹא־זֶ֣ה דְבָרִ֗י עַד־הֱיוֹתִי֙ עַל־אַדְמָתִ֔י עַל־כֵּ֥ן קִדַּ֖מְתִּי לִבְרֹ֣חַ תַּרְשִׁ֑ישָׁה כִּ֣י יָדַ֗עְתִּי כִּ֤י אַתָּה֙ אֵֽל־חַנּ֣וּן וְרַח֔וּם אֶ֤רֶךְ אַפַּ֙יִם֙ וְרַב־חֶ֔סֶד וְנִחָ֖ם עַל־הָרָעָֽה׃

[Jonah 4:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JON.4.2/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

<!-- .ens -->
1. **And he prayed unto the LORD, and said: 'I pray Thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in mine own country?**
2. [Therefore I fled beforehand unto Tarshish; for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and repentest Thee of the evil.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JON.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:JON:41` 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: [Jonah 4:1 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JON.40/)
- next →: [Jonah 4:2 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JON.42/)
- ↑ back to [Jonah 4:2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JON.4.2/)