---
title: Genesis 47:3 (JPS 1917) — And Pharaoh said unto his brethren: 'What is your occupation?' And t… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Pharaoh said unto his brethren: 'What is your occupation?' And they said unto Pharaoh: 'Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.' Who acts: Pharaoh, brethren, servants. Genesis 47:3 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 47:3 · JPS 1917

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And Pharaoh said unto his brethren: 'What is your occupation?' And they said unto Pharaoh: 'Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.'

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**Who acts:** Pharaoh, brethren, servants · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** occupation, shepherds · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 47:3 · 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 (Pharaoh, brethren, servants), 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:1540
# text = And Pharaoh said unto his brethren: 'What is your occupation?' And they said unto Pharaoh: 'Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Pharaoh	Pharaoh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	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	brethren	brethren	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	_
9	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	occupation	occupation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
14	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
15	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
18	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	Pharaoh	Pharaoh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
20	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
21	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	_
22	Thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
24	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	shepherds	shepherd	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	ccomp	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc:preconj	_	_
28	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	conj	_	_
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	fathers	father	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	_
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
34	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Pharaoh |  |  |  |  | unto Pharaoh's brethren | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | your occupation |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | brethren |  |  |  |  | unto Pharaoh | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | present | Thy servants | shepherds and our fathers |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֧אמֶר פַּרְעֹ֛ה אֶל־אֶחָ֖יו מַה־מַּעֲשֵׂיכֶ֑ם וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֗ה רֹעֵ֥ה צֹאן֙ עֲבָדֶ֔יךָ גַּם־אֲנַ֖חְנוּ גַּם־אֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ׃

[Genesis 47:3: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.47.3/)

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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:1540` 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 47:2 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1539/)
- next →: [Genesis 47:4 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1541/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 47:3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.47.3/)