--- title: Genesis 11:4 (JPS 1917) — And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its… · tree and pragmatics description: And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' Who acts: language, us. Genesis 11:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.282/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Torah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/) / [Genesis](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN/) / [chapter 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN/11/) / [11:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.11.4/) / JPS 1 # Genesis 11:4 · JPS 1917 And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' **Who acts:** language, us · **What happens:** say, come, let, build, make, scatter · **To what, where:** us, city, name, we, face · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is Genesis 11:4 · 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 (language, us), 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:282 # text = And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 : : PUNCT : _ 6 punct _ _ 5 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ _ 6 Come come VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 ccomp _ _ 7 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 8 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 conj _ _ 9 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 8 obj _ _ 10 build build VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 xcomp _ _ 11 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 10 iobj _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 city city NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ _ 14 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 tower tower NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 conj _ _ 18 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 19 with with ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 21 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod _ _ 22 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 heaven heaven NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod _ _ 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 26 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 conj _ _ 27 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 26 obj _ _ 28 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 xcomp _ _ 29 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 28 iobj _ _ 30 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 name name NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 32 ; ; PUNCT : _ 36 punct _ _ 33 lest lest SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 34 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj:pass _ _ 35 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 36 aux:pass _ _ 36 scattered scatter VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 26 advcl _ _ 37 abroad abroad ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 38 upon upon ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 face face NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 43 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 earth earth NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod _ _ 45 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ 46 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: command - act: suggest - voice: character - polarity: none - teacher: kept the draft | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | language | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **come** | infinitive | | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **let** | infinitive | | us | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **build** | infinitive | us *not said here* | a city and a tower | us | | | with tower's top in heaven | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset we=Beneficiary city=Product | | 5 | **let** | infinitive | | us | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **make** | infinitive | us *not said here* | a name | us | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset we=Beneficiary name=Product | | 7 | **scatter** | infinitive · passive | | we | | the face of the whole earth | | abroad *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon face=Destination | 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} וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ הָ֣בָה ׀ נִבְנֶה־לָּ֣נוּ עִ֗יר וּמִגְדָּל֙ וְרֹאשׁ֣וֹ בַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְנַֽעֲשֶׂה־לָּ֖נוּ שֵׁ֑ם פֶּן־נָפ֖וּץ עַל־פְּנֵ֥י כָל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ [Genesis 11:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.11.4/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:GEN:282` 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. - ← previous: [Genesis 11:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.281/) - next →: [Genesis 11:5 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.283/) - ↑ back to [Genesis 11:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.11.4/)