---
title: Genesis 38:16 (JPS 1917) — And he turned unto her by the way, and said: 'Come, I pray thee, let… · tree and pragmatics
description: And he turned unto her by the way, and said: 'Come, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee'; for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law. Who acts: Judah, I, me, Tamar. Genesis 38:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 38:16 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

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And he turned unto her by the way, and said: 'Come, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee'; for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law.

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**Who acts:** Judah, I, me, Tamar · **What happens:** turn, say, come, pray, let, come in · **To what, where:** thee, me, daughter · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 38:16 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 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 (Judah, I, me, Tamar), 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:1232
# text = And he turned unto her by the way, and said: 'Come, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee'; for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
13	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	_
14	Come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
18	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	17	obj	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	parataxis	_	_
21	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	in	in	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	22	obl	_	_
26	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
28	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	ccomp	_	_
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	40	punct	_	_
40	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: other
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=other

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | past | Judah |  |  |  |  | unto Tamar; by the way | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme by way=Trajectory |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Judah *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **come** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **pray** | present | I | thee |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **let** | infinitive |  | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **come in** | infinitive | me *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unto thee | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **know** | past | Judah |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **is a** | past | Tamar | Judah's daughter |  |  |  |  | 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}

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וַיֵּ֨ט אֵלֶ֜יהָ אֶל־הַדֶּ֗רֶךְ וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ הָֽבָה־נָּא֙ אָב֣וֹא אֵלַ֔יִךְ כִּ֚י לֹ֣א יָדַ֔ע כִּ֥י כַלָּת֖וֹ הִ֑וא וַתֹּ֙אמֶר֙ מַה־תִּתֶּן־לִּ֔יכִּ֥י תָב֖וֹא אֵלָֽי׃

[Genesis 38:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.38.16/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

<!-- .ens -->
1. **And he turned unto her by the way, and said: 'Come, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee'; for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law.**
2. [And she said: 'What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1233/)

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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:1232` 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: [Genesis 38:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1231/)
- next →: [Genesis 38:16 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1233/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 38:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.38.16/)