--- title: Genesis 4:23 (JPS 1917) — And Lamech said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye w… · tree and pragmatics description: And Lamech said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech; for I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me; Who acts: Lamech, ye, I, man. Genesis 4:23 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.112/) [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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN/4/) / [4:23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.4.23/) / JPS 1 # Genesis 4:23 · JPS 1917 And Lamech said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech; for I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me; **Who acts:** Lamech, ye, I, man, young man, my · **What happens:** say, hear, hearken, slay, wound, bruise · **To what, where:** voice, man, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is Genesis 4:23 · 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 (Lamech, ye, I, man), 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:GEN:112 # text = And Lamech said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech; for I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me; 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 2 Lamech Lamech PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 unto unto ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 6 nmod:poss _ _ 6 wives wife NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obl _ _ 7 : : PUNCT : _ 8 punct _ _ 8 Adah Adah PROPN NNP Number=Sing 12 vocative _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 Zillah Zillah PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 conj _ _ 11 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 12 hear hear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 ccomp _ _ 13 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 15 ; ; PUNCT : _ 17 punct _ _ 16 ye ye PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 21 nsubj _ _ 17 wives wife NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 vocative _ _ 18 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 Lamech Lamech PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 nmod _ _ 20 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 21 hearken hearken VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 ccomp _ _ 22 unto unto ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 24 nmod:poss _ _ 24 speech speech NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ _ 25 ; ; PUNCT : _ 29 punct _ _ 26 for for SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 27 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 28 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 29 slain slay VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 advcl _ _ 30 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obj _ _ 32 for for SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 33 wounding wound VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 31 acl _ _ 34 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 33 obj _ _ 35 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 38 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 conj _ _ 40 for for SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 41 bruising bruise VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 39 acl _ _ 42 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ _ 43 ; ; PUNCT : _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: statement - act: narrate - voice: narrator - polarity: none - teacher: kept the draft | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Lamech | | | | | unto Lamech's wives | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **hear** | infinitive | | my voice | | | | Adah and Zillah *vocative* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer voice=Stimulus | | 3 | **hearken** | infinitive | ye | | | | | unto my speech; wives of Lamech *vocative* | tree rules | | 4 | **slay** | present · perfect | I | a man and a young man | | | | | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient | | 5 | **wound** | gerund | a man and a young man *not said here* | me | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus i=Experiencer | | 6 | **bruise** | gerund | a young man *not said here* | me | | | | | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient | | 7 | **speak** | | my | | | | | | nom speech «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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} וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לֶ֜מֶךְ לְנָשָׁ֗יו עָדָ֤ה וְצִלָּה֙ שְׁמַ֣עַן קוֹלִ֔י נְשֵׁ֣י לֶ֔מֶךְ הַאְזֵ֖נָּה אִמְרָתִ֑י כִּ֣י אִ֤ישׁ הָרַ֙גְתִּי֙ לְפִצְעִ֔י וְיֶ֖לֶד לְחַבֻּרָתִֽי׃ [Genesis 4:23: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.4.23/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:GEN:112` 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. - ← previous: [Genesis 4:22 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.111/) - next →: [Genesis 4:24 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.113/) - ↑ back to [Genesis 4:23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.4.23/)