---
title: Genesis 44:4 (JPS 1917) — And when they were gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, J… · tree and pragmatics
description: And when they were gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward: 'Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them: Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Who acts: men, Joseph, thou, ye. Genesis 44:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree an
---

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# Genesis 44:4 · JPS 1917

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And when they were gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward: 'Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them: Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?

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**Who acts:** men, Joseph, thou, ye · **What happens:** be, not be, say, follow, overtake, reward · **To what, where:** city, men, evil · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 44:4 · 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 (men, Joseph, thou, ye), 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:1441
# text = And when they were gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward: 'Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them: Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
2	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	advcl	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
14	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	16	advmod	_	_
16	off	off	ADV	RB	_	5	conj	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
18	Joseph	Joseph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	steward	steward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
24	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	_
25	Up	up	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
28	after	after	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
31	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
33	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	36	mark	_	_
34	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	36	nsubj	_	_
35	dost	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	overtake	overtake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	advcl	_	_
37	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
39	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	conj	_	_
40	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obl	_	_
42	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	_
43	Wherefore	wherefore	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	46	advmod	_	_
44	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
45	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	46	nsubj	_	_
46	rewarded	reward	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	ccomp	_	_
47	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
48	for	for	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	obl	_	_
50	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	39	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | men *= man* |  |  | the city |  | go *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | past | men *= man* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | far, off *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Joseph |  |  |  |  | unto Joseph's steward | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **follow** | infinitive |  |  |  |  | after the men |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent after man=Theme |
| 5 | **overtake** | present · do-support | thou | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | unto men *= man* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **reward** | present · perfect | ye | evil |  |  |  | for good; wherefore *property* | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent evil=Theme for good=Attribute |

<!-- .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 -->
הֵ֠ם יָֽצְא֣וּ אֶת־הָעִיר֮ לֹ֣א הִרְחִיקוּ֒ וְיוֹסֵ֤ף אָמַר֙ לַֽאֲשֶׁ֣ר עַל־בֵּית֔וֹ ק֥וּם רְדֹ֖ף אַחֲרֵ֣י הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֑ים וְהִשַּׂגְתָּם֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם לָ֛מָּה שִׁלַּמְתֶּ֥ם רָעָ֖ה תַּ֥חַת טוֹבָֽה׃

[Genesis 44:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.44.4/)

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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:1441` 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 44:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1440/)
- next →: [Genesis 44:5 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1442/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 44:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.44.4/)