---
title: Genesis 49:17 (JPS 1917) — Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that… · tree and pragmatics
description: Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider falleth backward. Who acts: Dan, horned snake, rider. Genesis 49:17 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 49:17 · JPS 1917

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Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider falleth backward.

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**Who acts:** Dan, horned snake, rider · **What happens:** be, bite, fall · **To what, where:** serpent, way, heels

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This is Genesis 49:17 · 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 (Dan, horned snake, rider), 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:1616
# text = Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider falleth backward.
1	Dan	Dan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	horned	horned	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
18	biteth	bite	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	_
21	's	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	heels	heel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	fixed	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	rider	rider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	falleth	fall	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
29	backward	backward	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- 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 | **is a** | shall | Dan | a serpent |  | the way |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **bite** | present | a horned snake in the path | the horse's heels |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heel=Patient |
| 3 | **fall** | present | Dan's rider |  |  |  |  | backward *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=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 -->
יְהִי־דָן֙ נָחָ֣שׁ עֲלֵי־דֶ֔רֶךְ שְׁפִיפֹ֖ן עֲלֵי־אֹ֑רַח הַנֹּשֵׁךְ֙ עִקְּבֵי־ס֔וּס וַיִּפֹּ֥ל רֹכְב֖וֹ אָחֽוֹר׃

[Genesis 49:17: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.49.17/)

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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:1616` 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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