---
title: Genesis 42:37 (JPS 1917) — And Reuben spoke unto his father, saying: 'Thou shalt slay my two so… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Reuben spoke unto his father, saying: 'Thou shalt slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee; deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him back to thee.' Who acts: Reuben, Thou, I. Genesis 42:37 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1398/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN/42/) / [42:37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.42.37/) / JPS 1

# Genesis 42:37 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Reuben spoke unto his father, saying: 'Thou shalt slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee; deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him back to thee.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Reuben, Thou, I · **What happens:** speak, say, slay, not bring, deliver, bring back · **To what, where:** two sons, Reuben, thee, hand · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 42:37 · 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 (Reuben, Thou, I), 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:1398
# text = And Reuben spoke unto his father, saying: 'Thou shalt slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee; deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him back to thee.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Reuben	Reuben	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	spoke	speak	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	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
10	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
11	Thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nsubj	_	_
12	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	slay	slay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
14	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	bring	bring	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	20	obl	_	_
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
26	deliver	deliver	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	into	into	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	conj	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	back	back	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
38	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	35	obl	_	_
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
41	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Reuben |  |  |  |  | unto Reuben's father | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Reuben *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **slay** | shall | Thou | my two sons |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **bring** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | I | Reuben |  | thee |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to thou=Destination |
| 5 | **deliver** | infinitive |  | Reuben |  | my hand |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 6 | **bring back** | future | I | Reuben |  | thee |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to thou=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר רְאוּבֵן֙ אֶל־אָבִ֣יו לֵאמֹ֔ר אֶת־שְׁנֵ֤י בָנַי֙ תָּמִ֔ית אִם־לֹ֥א אֲבִיאֶ֖נּוּ אֵלֶ֑יךָ תְּנָ֤ה אֹתוֹ֙ עַל־יָדִ֔י וַאֲנִ֖י אֲשִׁיבֶ֥נּוּ אֵלֶֽיךָ׃

[Genesis 42:37: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.42.37/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:GEN:1398` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Genesis 42:36 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1397/)
- next →: [Genesis 42:38 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1399/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 42:37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.42.37/)