---
title: Genesis 38:9 (JPS 1917) — And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass wh… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. Who acts: Onan, seed, Judah. Genesis 38:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 38:9 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother.

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**Who acts:** Onan, seed, Judah · **What happens:** know, not be, come, pass, go in, spill · **To what, where:** Judah, seed, ground, brother · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 38:9 · 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 (Onan, seed, Judah), 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:1225
# text = And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Onan	Onan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	ccomp	_	_
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	19	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
20	in	in	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	's	's	PART	POS	_	23	case	_	_
25	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	spilled	spill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
39	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | Onan |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **not** **is a** | would | the seed | Judah |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **come** | past | seed |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **pass** | to-infinitive | seed *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **go in** | past | Judah |  |  |  |  | unto Judah's brother's wife | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **spill** | past | Judah | seed |  | the ground |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location it=Theme |
| 7 | **give** | should | Judah | seed | Judah's brother |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent seed=Theme to brother=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֵּ֣דַע אוֹנָ֔ן כִּ֛י לֹּ֥אל֖וֹ יִהְיֶ֣ה הַזָּ֑רַע וְהָיָ֞ה אִם־בָּ֨א אֶל־אֵ֤שֶׁת אָחִיו֙ וְשִׁחֵ֣ת אַ֔רְצָה לְבִלְתִּ֥י נְתָן־זֶ֖רַע לְאָחִֽיו׃

[Genesis 38:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.38.9/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:GEN:1225` 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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