--- title: Genesis 11:4 — And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its… · Hebrew, tree and pragmatics description: And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' Who acts: language, us. Genesis 11:4 in Hebrew with its dependency tree, Targum Onkelos, JPS 1917 and the pragmatics of every c --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.11.4/) [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/) / [Torah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/) / [Genesis](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN/) / [chapter 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN/11/) / 11:4 # Genesis 11:4 בְּרֵאשִׁית **Who acts:** language, us · **What happens:** say, come, let, build, make, scatter · **To what, where:** us, city, name, we, face · **Speech:** someone speaks in this verse This is Genesis 11:4 from Mova's open Bible corpus, the Tanakh in three languages (The Torah). The page gives the verse in Hebrew as the Westminster Leningrad Codex has it, its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, built from MACULA Hebrew — and its pragmatics: who acts — language, us — and what happens in the verse to us, city, name, we, face, read clause by clause by Mova's frames. Beside it stand the Aramaic of Targum Onkelos and the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, each English sentence with a tree of its own. It is one of the 50 chapters of Genesis on this site, all built by Mova itself from its own trees, with no large model in between. וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ הָ֣בָה ׀ נִבְנֶה־לָּ֣נוּ עִ֗יר וּמִגְדָּל֙ וְרֹאשׁ֣וֹ בַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְנַֽעֲשֶׂה־לָּ֖נוּ שֵׁ֑ם פֶּן־נָפ֖וּץ עַל־פְּנֵ֥י כָל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ [And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.282/) ## The tree {#tree} Right to left, as the Hebrew is read; a prefix or suffix is a word of its own, and a line under the words joins those written as one. Under each word its part of speech and MACULA's English gloss. ```conllu rtl gloss # sent_id = wlc:GEN:270 # text = וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ הָ֣בָה ׀ נִבְנֶה־לָּ֣נוּ עִ֗יר וּמִגְדָּל֙ וְרֹאשׁ֣וֹ בַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְנַֽעֲשֶׂה־לָּ֖נוּ שֵׁ֑ם פֶּן־נָפ֖וּץ עַל־פְּנֵ֥י כָל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ # verse = GEN.11.4 1-2 וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 וַ וְ CCONJ _ _ 2 cc _ Gloss=and|Ref=GEN_11:4!1|MId=o010110040011|Strong=2050b 2 יֹּאמְר֞וּ אָמַר VERB _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Plur|Person=3 0 root _ Gloss=they.said|Ref=GEN_11:4!1|MId=o010110040012|Strong=0559|Frame=A0:010110010032;|Type=wayyiqtol 3-4 הָ֣בָה _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 הָ֣ב יָהַב VERB _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Sing|Person=2 2 ccomp _ Gloss=give|Ref=GEN_11:4!2|MId=o010110040021|Strong=3051|Frame=A0:010110030041;|Type=imperative 4 ָה ה X _ _ 3 nmod _ Gloss=|Ref=GEN_11:4!2|MId=o010110040022|Strong=1886j|Type=paragogic_he 5 ׀ ׀ PUNCT _ _ 4 punct _ Ref=GEN_11:4!2 6 נִבְנֶה־ בָּנָה VERB _ Gender=Com|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Plur|Person=1 3 parataxis _ Gloss=let.us.build|Ref=GEN_11:4!3|MId=o010110040031|Strong=1129|Frame=A0:010110010032;A1:010110040051;010110040062;|Type=cohortative|SpaceAfter=No 7-8 לָּ֣נוּ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 7 לּ לְ ADP _ _ 8 case _ Gloss=for|Ref=GEN_11:4!4|MId=o010110040041|Strong=3807a 8 ָ֣נוּ הוּא PRON _ Gender=Com|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 6 obl _ Gloss=ourselves|Ref=GEN_11:4!4|MId=o010110040042|Strong=5105a|Type=pronominal 9 עִ֗יר עִיר NOUN _ Gender=Fem|Number=Sing 6 obj _ Gloss=a.city|Ref=GEN_11:4!5|MId=o010110040051|Strong=5892 10-11 וּמִגְדָּל֙ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 10 וּ וְ CCONJ _ _ 11 cc _ Gloss=and|Ref=GEN_11:4!6|MId=o010110040061|Strong=2050b 11 מִגְדָּל֙ מִגְדָּל NOUN _ Number=Sing 9 conj _ Gloss=a.tower|Ref=GEN_11:4!6|MId=o010110040062|Strong=4026 12-14 וְרֹאשׁ֣וֹ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 12 וְ וְ CCONJ _ _ 17 cc _ Gloss=and|Ref=GEN_11:4!7|MId=o010110040071|Strong=2050b 13 רֹאשׁ רֹאשׁ NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ Gloss=top|Ref=GEN_11:4!7|MId=o010110040072|Strong=7218 14 ֣וֹ הוּא PRON _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ Gloss=its|Ref=GEN_11:4!7|MId=o010110040073|Strong=2050c|Type=pronominal 15-17 בַשָּׁמַ֔יִם _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 15 בַ בְּ ADP _ _ 17 case _ Gloss=[will|Ref=GEN_11:4!8|MId=o010110040081|Strong=0871a 16 ה הַ DET _ PronType=Art 17 det _ Gloss=be]|Ref=GEN_11:4!8|MId=o010110040081ה|Strong=1886a|Type=definite_article 17 שָּׁמַ֔יִם שָׁמַיִם NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Dual 3 conj _ Gloss=in.the.heavens|Ref=GEN_11:4!8|MId=o010110040082|Strong=8064 18-19 וְנַֽעֲשֶׂה־ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 18 וְ וְ CCONJ _ _ 19 cc _ Gloss=so|Ref=GEN_11:4!9|MId=o010110040091|Strong=2050b 19 נַֽעֲשֶׂה־ עָשָׂה VERB _ Gender=Com|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Plur|Person=1 3 conj _ Gloss=that.we.may.make|Ref=GEN_11:4!9|MId=o010110040092|Strong=6213|Frame=A0:010110010032;A1:010110040111;|Type=cohortative 20-21 לָּ֖נוּ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 20 לּ לְ ADP _ _ 21 case _ Gloss=for|Ref=GEN_11:4!10|MId=o010110040101|Strong=3807a 21 ָ֖נוּ הוּא PRON _ Gender=Com|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 19 obl _ Gloss=ourselves|Ref=GEN_11:4!10|MId=o010110040102|Strong=5105a|Type=pronominal 22 שֵׁ֑ם שֵׁם NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 19 obj _ Gloss=a.name|Ref=GEN_11:4!11|MId=o010110040111|Strong=8034 23 פֶּן־ פֶּן SCONJ _ _ 24 mark _ Gloss=lest|Ref=GEN_11:4!12|MId=o010110040121|Strong=6435|SpaceAfter=No 24 נָפ֖וּץ פּוּץ VERB _ Gender=Com|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Plur|Person=1 3 advcl _ Gloss=we.should.be.scattered|Ref=GEN_11:4!13|MId=o010110040131|Strong=6327|Frame=A0:010110010032;|Type=yiqtol 25 עַל־ עַל ADP _ _ 26 case _ Gloss=over|Ref=GEN_11:4!14|MId=o010110040141|Strong=5921|SpaceAfter=No 26 פְּנֵ֥י פָּנֶה NOUN _ Number=Plur 24 obl _ Gloss=the.surface|Ref=GEN_11:4!15|MId=o010110040151|Strong=6440 27 כָל־ כֹּל NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 26 compound:smixut _ Gloss=of.all|Ref=GEN_11:4!16|MId=o010110040161|Strong=3605|SpaceAfter=No 28-29 הָאָֽרֶץ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 28 הָ הַ DET _ PronType=Art 29 det _ Gloss=the|Ref=GEN_11:4!17|MId=o010110040171|Strong=1886a|Type=definite_article 29 אָֽרֶץ אֶרֶץ NOUN _ Number=Sing 27 compound:smixut _ Gloss=earth|Ref=GEN_11:4!17|MId=o010110040172|Strong=0776 30 ׃ ׃ PUNCT _ _ 29 punct _ Ref=GEN_11:4!17 ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: command - act: request - voice: character - speech: a frame and its quote - negation: no - the frame alone: decl · narrate · none | verb | form · stem | who (A0) | what, whom (A1) | to whom, further (A2) | who makes it happen (AA) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | יֹּאמְרוּ *they said* | wayyiqtol · qal | | | | | | הָב *give* | imperative · qal | | | | | | נִבְנֶה־ *let us build* | cohortative · qal | | עִיר *a city* + מִגְדָּל *a tower* | | | | נַֽעֲשֶׂה־ *that we may make* | cohortative · qal | | שֵׁם *a name* | | | | נָפוּץ *we should be scattered* | yiqtol · qal | | | | | MACULA's semantic frames: for each verb the head word of each participant. A0 is the one who acts, A1 what the act is done to or is about, A2 a further participant; AA, with a causative verb, the one who makes it happen. ## Targum Onkelos {#onkelos} וַאֲמָרוּ הָבוּ נִבְנֵי לָנָא קַרְתָּא וּמַגְדְּלָא וְרֵישֵׁהּ מָטֵי עַד צֵית שְׁמַיָּא וְנַעְבֵּיד לָנָא שׁוּם דִּילְמָא נִתְבַּדַּר עַל אַפֵּי כָל אַרְעָא The Aramaic translation read beside the Hebrew. Text only: Mova has no Aramaic parser yet. ## English, JPS 1917 {#english} Each sentence on its own page, with its tree and pragmatics. A sentence that runs on into the next verse is listed under the verse it begins in. 1. [And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.282/) **Hebrew text:** Westminster Leningrad Codex, public domain. **Tree, glosses and frames:** MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets, available at [github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew](https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew/), [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/); converted to Universal Dependencies by Mova (words in text order, a prefix its own word). **Speech act:** Mova's rules on the MACULA words (`macula prag`). **Targum:** Onkelos (Torat Emet), Jonathan and the Writings (Mikraot Gedolot), from Sefaria, public domain. **English:** JPS 1917, public domain; trees and speech acts by Mova's cycle, frames by Mova's reader (Elamur Cosmic License). Hebrew sentence `wlc:GEN:270`. - ← previous: [Genesis 11:3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.11.3/) - next →: [Genesis 11:5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.11.5/) - ↑ back to [Genesis 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN/11/)