---
title: Genesis 42:7 (JPS 1917) — And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself stra… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spoke roughly with them; and he said unto them: 'Whence come ye?' And they said: 'From the land of Canaan to buy food.' Who acts: Joseph, ye, brethren. Genesis 42:7 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Genesis 42:7 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spoke roughly with them; and he said unto them: 'Whence come ye?' And they said: 'From the land of Canaan to buy food.'

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**Who acts:** Joseph, ye, brethren · **What happens:** see, know, make, speak, say, come · **To what, where:** brethren, Joseph, land, food · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 42:7 · 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 (Joseph, ye, brethren), 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:1368
# text = And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spoke roughly with them; and he said unto them: 'Whence come ye?' And they said: 'From the land of Canaan to buy food.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Joseph	Joseph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	brethren	brethren	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
14	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	13	obj	_	_
15	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
16	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
21	roughly	roughly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	_
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
28	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	_
30	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
31	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	33	punct	_	_
32	Whence	whence	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	33	advmod	_	_
33	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	ccomp	_	_
34	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	33	nsubj	_	_
35	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	33	punct	_	_
36	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	33	punct	_	_
37	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
40	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
41	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	44	punct	_	_
42	From	from	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	Canaan	Canaan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	buy	buy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	acl	_	_
49	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
51	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=q, act=ask

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | Joseph | Joseph's brethren |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer brethren=Stimulus |
| 2 | **know** | past | Joseph | brethren |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 3 | **make** | past | Joseph *not said here* | Joseph |  |  |  | strange *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset himself=Product |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Joseph *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with brethren; roughly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with they=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Joseph |  |  |  |  | unto brethren | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **come** | present | ye |  |  |  |  | whence *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | brethren |  |  | the land of Canaan |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **buy** | to-infinitive | brethren *not said here* | food |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיַּ֥רְא יוֹסֵ֛ף אֶת־אֶחָ֖יו וַיַּכִּרֵ֑ם וַיִּתְנַכֵּ֨ר אֲלֵיהֶ֜ם וַיְדַבֵּ֧ר אִתָּ֣ם קָשׁ֗וֹת וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵהֶם֙ מֵאַ֣יִן בָּאתֶ֔ם וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ כְּנַ֖עַן לִשְׁבָּר־אֹֽכֶל׃

[Genesis 42:7: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.42.7/)

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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:1368` 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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