---
title: Genesis 16:2 (JPS 1917) — And Sarai said unto Abram: 'Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Sarai said unto Abram: 'Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall be builded up through her.' And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. Who acts: Sarai, LORD, I, Abram. Genesis 16:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and
---

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# Genesis 16:2 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Sarai said unto Abram: 'Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall be builded up through her.' And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Sarai, LORD, I, Abram · **What happens:** say, restrain, bearing, go in, pray, build up · **To what, where:** me, thee, I · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 16:2 · 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 (Sarai, LORD, I, Abram), 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:399
# text = And Sarai said unto Abram: 'Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall be builded up through her.' And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Sarai	Sarai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Abram	Abram	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	_
8	Behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	14	discourse	_	_
9	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	restrained	restrain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
17	bearing	bearing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
19	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
20	in	in	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
24	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	23	obj	_	_
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	handmaid	handmaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	expl	_	_
31	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	aux	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	builded	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	ccomp	_	_
38	up	up	ADP	RP	_	37	compound:prt	_	_
39	through	through	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	_
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
42	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
43	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
44	Abram	Abram	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
45	hearkened	hearken	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	Sarai	Sarai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	_
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- hedged: yes
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Sarai |  |  |  |  | unto Abram | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **restrain** | present · perfect | the LORD | me |  |  | now |  | vn limit-76 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Causer i=Patient clause=Goal |
| 3 | **bearing** | gerund | the LORD *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **go in** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **pray** | present | I | thee |  |  |  | unto my handmaid | tree rules |
| 6 | **build up** | shall · passive |  | I |  |  |  | through Abram | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 7 | **hearken** | past | Abram |  |  |  |  | to the voice of Sarai | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
וַתֹּ֨אמֶר שָׂרַ֜י אֶל־אַבְרָ֗ם הִנֵּה־נָ֞א עֲצָרַ֤נִי יְהוָה֙ מִלֶּ֔דֶת בֹּא־נָא֙ אֶל־שִׁפְחָתִ֔י אוּלַ֥י אִבָּנֶ֖ה מִמֶּ֑נָּהוַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע אַבְרָ֖ם לְק֥וֹל שָׂרָֽי׃

[Genesis 16:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.16.2/)

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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:399` 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 16:1 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.398/)
- next →: [Genesis 16:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.400/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 16:2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.16.2/)