---
title: Jonah 4:2 (JPS 1917) — Therefore I fled beforehand unto Tarshish; for I knew that Thou art… · tree and pragmatics
description: 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. Who acts: I. 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 2 of 2

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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.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** flee, know, be, repent · **To what, where:** gracious God, mercy, Thee · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Jonah 4:2 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 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 (I), 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:42
# text = 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.
1	Therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	fled	flee	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	beforehand	beforehand	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Tarshish	Tarshish	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
8	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	Thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nsubj	_	_
13	art	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	gracious	gracious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	ccomp	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	compassionate	compassionate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	_
23	suffering	suffering	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	abundant	abundant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	repentest	repent	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
32	Thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	31	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flee** | past | I |  |  |  |  | unto Tarshish; beforehand, therefore *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **know** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | a gracious God |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  |  |  |  | mercy |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **repent** | present | I *not said here* | Thee |  |  |  | of the evil | 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:

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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?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JON.41/)
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.**

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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:42` 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 4:2 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JON.41/)
- next →: [Jonah 4:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JON.43/)
- ↑ back to [Jonah 4:2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JON.4.2/)