---
title: Genesis 50:15 (JPS 1917) — And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said… · tree and pragmatics
description: And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said: 'It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did unto him.' Who acts: brethren, father, Joseph, we. Genesis 50:15 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 50:15 · JPS 1917

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And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said: 'It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did unto him.'

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**Who acts:** brethren, father, Joseph, we · **What happens:** see, be, say, requite, do · **To what, where:** evil, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 50:15 · 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 (brethren, father, Joseph, we), 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:1650
# text = And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said: 'It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did unto him.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
2	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	6	mark	_	_
3	Joseph	Joseph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	brethren	brethren	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
16	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	_
17	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	expl	_	_
18	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	cop	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	Joseph	Joseph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	hate	hate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	ccomp	_	_
24	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	fully	fully	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	requite	requite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
30	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	iobj	_	_
31	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	33	det:predet	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
34	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	36	obj	_	_
35	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
37	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	_
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
40	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- hedged: yes
- teacher: changed polarity=none

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | Joseph's brethren |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past | brethren's father |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | brethren |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | future · infinitive | Joseph |  |  |  |  | hate *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **requite** | future | Joseph *not said here* | all evil | us |  |  | fully *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **do** | past | we | all evil |  |  |  | unto Joseph | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Eventuality |

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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}

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וַיִּרְא֤וּ אֲחֵֽי־יוֹסֵף֙ כִּי־מֵ֣ת אֲבִיהֶ֔ם וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ ל֥וּ יִשְׂטְמֵ֖נוּ יוֹסֵ֑ף וְהָשֵׁ֤ב יָשִׁיב֙ לָ֔נוּ אֵ֚ת כָּל־הָ֣רָעָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר גָּמַ֖לְנוּ אֹתֽוֹ׃

[Genesis 50:15: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.50.15/)

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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:1650` 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 50:14 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1649/)
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- ↑ back to [Genesis 50:15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.50.15/)