---
title: Genesis 49:4 (JPS 1917) — Unstable as water, have not thou the excellency; because thou wentes… · tree and pragmatics
description: Unstable as water, have not thou the excellency; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it — he went up to my couch. Who acts: thou, Reuben. Genesis 49:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 49:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Unstable as water, have not thou the excellency; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it — he went up to my couch.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** thou, Reuben · **What happens:** go up, defile · **To what, where:** bed

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This is Genesis 49:4 · 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 (thou, Reuben), 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:1602
# text = Unstable as water, have not thou the excellency; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it — he went up to my couch.
1	Unstable	unstable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	advcl	_	_
2	as	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
7	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	5	nsubj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	excellency	excellency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
11	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nsubj	_	_
13	wentest	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
14	up	up	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
16	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	's	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	_
19	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
21	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
22	defiledst	defile	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
23	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	22	nsubj	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
25	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
28	up	up	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	couch	couch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: evaluate
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed act=evaluate, voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go up** | past | thou |  |  |  |  | to thy father's bed | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **defile** | past | thou | bed |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go up** | past | Reuben |  |  |  |  | to my couch | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=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 -->
פַּ֤חַז כַּמַּ֙יִם֙ אַל־תּוֹתַ֔ר כִּ֥י עָלִ֖יתָ מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אָבִ֑יךָ אָ֥ז חִלַּ֖לְתָּ יְצוּעִ֥י עָלָֽה׃פ

[Genesis 49:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.49.4/)

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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:1602` 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 49:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1601/)
- next →: [Genesis 49:5 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1603/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 49:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.49.4/)