---
title: Joshua 24:16 (JPS 1917) — And the people answered and said: 'Far be it from us that we should… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the people answered and said: 'Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; Who acts: people, it, we. Joshua 24:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JOS.663/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Nevi'im](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/) / [Joshua](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JOS/) / [chapter 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JOS/24/) / [24:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JOS.24.16/) / JPS 1

# Joshua 24:16 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the people answered and said: 'Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** people, it, we · **What happens:** answer, say, be, forsake, serve · **To what, where:** LORD, other gods · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Joshua 24:16 · 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 (people, it, we), 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:JOS:663
# text = And the people answered and said: 'Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
9	Far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
15	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	forsake	forsake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
23	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: express
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=express

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the people |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | infinitive | it |  |  |  |  | from us; far *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **forsake** | should | we | the LORD |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **serve** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | other gods |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent god=Attribute |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיַּ֤עַן הָעָם֙ וַיֹּ֔אמֶר חָלִ֣ילָה לָּ֔נוּ מֵעֲזֹ֖ב אֶת־יְהוָ֑ה לַעֲבֹ֖ד אֱלֹהִ֥ים אֲחֵרִֽים׃

[Joshua 24:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JOS.24.16/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JOS:663` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Joshua 24:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JOS.662/)
- next →: [Joshua 24:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JOS.664/)
- ↑ back to [Joshua 24:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JOS.24.16/)