---
title: Genesis 42:38 (JPS 1917) — And he said: 'My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is… · tree and pragmatics
description: And he said: 'My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left; if harm befall him by the way in which ye go, then will ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Who acts: Reuben, son, brother, harm. Genesis 42:38 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and th
---

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# Genesis 42:38 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And he said: 'My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left; if harm befall him by the way in which ye go, then will ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Reuben, son, brother, harm, ye · **What happens:** say, not go down, be, leave, befall, go · **To what, where:** Reuben, way, gray hairs, grave · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 42:38 · 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, son, brother, harm), 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:1399
# text = And he said: 'My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left; if harm befall him by the way in which ye go, then will ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.
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	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
6	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
11	down	down	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	_
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	only	only	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
27	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	befall	befall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	advcl	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	obl	_	_
36	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	37	nsubj	_	_
37	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
39	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	42	advmod	_	_
40	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	42	nsubj	_	_
42	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
43	down	down	ADV	RP	_	42	compound:prt	_	_
44	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
45	gray	gray	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	hairs	hair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obj	_	_
47	with	with	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
49	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Reuben |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **go down** | shall | My son |  |  |  |  | with you; down *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **is** | present | Reuben's brother |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **leave** | present · passive |  | Reuben |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **befall** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | harm | Reuben |  |  |  | by the way | tree rules |
| 6 | **go** | present | ye |  |  | the way |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in which=Location |
| 7 | **bring down** | future | ye | my gray hairs |  | the grave | then | with sorrow | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hair=Theme to grave=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 -->
וַיֹּ֕אמֶר לֹֽא־יֵרֵ֥ד בְּנִ֖י עִמָּכֶ֑ם כִּֽי־אָחִ֨יו מֵ֜ת וְה֧וּא לְבַדּ֣וֹ נִשְׁאָ֗ר וּקְרָאָ֤הוּ אָסוֹן֙ בַּדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תֵּֽלְכוּ־בָ֔הּ וְהוֹרַדְתֶּ֧ם אֶת־שֵׂיבָתִ֛י בְּיָג֖וֹן שְׁאֽוֹלָה׃

[Genesis 42:38: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.42.38/)

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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:1399` 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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