---
title: Genesis 42:21 (JPS 1917) — And they said one to another: 'We are verily guilty concerning our b… · tree and pragmatics
description: And they said one to another: 'We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.' Who acts: words, We, brother, distress. Genesis 42:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and th
---

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# Genesis 42:21 · JPS 1917

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And they said one to another: 'We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.'

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**Who acts:** words, We, brother, distress · **What happens:** say, be, see, beseech, not hear, come · **To what, where:** one, another, distress, us, soul · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 42:21 · 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 (words, We, brother, distress), 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:1382
# text = And they said one to another: 'We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	another	another	PRON	DT	PronType=Ind	4	nmod	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	_
9	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	verily	verily	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	guilty	guilty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
13	concerning	concern	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	fixed	_	_
19	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	distress	distress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	29	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	besought	beseech	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
30	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	36	advmod	_	_
36	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
37	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
38	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
39	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
40	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	41	det	_	_
41	distress	distress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
42	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
43	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	obl	_	_
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
46	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | words *= word* | one | another |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent one=Topic to another=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | present | We |  |  |  |  | concern our brother; guilty, verily *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | past | we | the distress of brother's soul |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer distress=Stimulus |
| 4 | **beseech** | past | brother | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **hear** | would | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **come** | present | this distress |  |  |  |  | upon us; therefore *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon we=Location |
| 7 | **distress** |  |  | brother's soul |  |  |  |  | nom distress «feeling transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֗יו אֲבָל֮ אֲשֵׁמִ֣ים ׀ אֲנַחְנוּ֮ עַל־אָחִינוּ֒ אֲשֶׁ֨ר רָאִ֜ינוּ צָרַ֥ת נַפְשׁ֛וֹ בְּהִתְחַֽנְנ֥וֹ אֵלֵ֖ינוּ וְלֹ֣א שָׁמָ֑עְנוּ עַל־כֵּן֙ בָּ֣אָה אֵלֵ֔ינוּ הַצָּרָ֖ה הַזֹּֽאת׃

[Genesis 42:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.42.21/)

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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:1382` 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 42:20 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1381/)
- next →: [Genesis 42:22 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1383/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 42:21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.42.21/)