---
title: Genesis 13:16 (JPS 1917) — And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man… · tree and pragmatics
description: And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Who acts: I, man. Genesis 13:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 13:16 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, man · **What happens:** make, number · **To what, where:** seed, dust

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 13:16 · 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 (I, man), 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:350
# text = And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
14	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	fixed	_	_
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	number	number	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	advcl	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
27	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	_
28	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
29	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	also	also	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	numbered	number	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: promise
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | future | I | thy seed |  |  |  | as the dust of the earth | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seed=Product |
| 2 | **number** | can | a man | the dust of the earth |  |  |  |  | vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dust=Theme |
| 3 | **number** | shall · passive |  | thy seed |  |  | then |  | vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: subject=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 -->
וְשַׂמְתִּ֥י אֶֽת־זַרְעֲךָ֖ כַּעֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֑רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ אִם־יוּכַ֣ל אִ֗ישׁ לִמְנוֹת֙ אֶת־עֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֔רֶץ גַּֽם־זַרְעֲךָ֖ יִמָּנֶֽה׃

[Genesis 13:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.13.16/)

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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:350` 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 13:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.349/)
- next →: [Genesis 13:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.351/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 13:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.13.16/)