---
title: Genesis 6:2 (JPS 1917) — that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; a… · tree and pragmatics
description: that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives, whomsoever they chose. Who acts: sons, daughters. Genesis 6:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 6:2 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives, whomsoever they chose.

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**Who acts:** sons, daughters · **What happens:** see, be, take, choose · **To what, where:** daughters, wives, men, whomsoever · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 6:2 · 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 (sons, daughters), 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:150
# text = that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives, whomsoever they chose.
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	_
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	iobj	_	_
20	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	whomsoever	whomsoever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	obj	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the sons of God | the daughters of men |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer daughter=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | daughters *= daughter* |  |  |  |  | fair *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **take** | past | daughters *= daughter* | wives | men *= man* |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument they=Theme wife=Destination |
| 4 | **choose** | past | daughters *= daughter* | whomsoever |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whomsoever=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 -->
וַיִּרְא֤וּ בְנֵי־הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־בְּנ֣וֹת הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֥י טֹבֹ֖ת הֵ֑נָּה וַיִּקְח֤וּ לָהֶם֙ נָשִׁ֔ים מִכֹּ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר בָּחָֽרוּ׃

[Genesis 6:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.6.2/)

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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:150` 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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