---
title: Genesis 24:50 (JPS 1917) — Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said: 'The thing proceedeth from… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said: 'The thing proceedeth from the LORD; we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Who acts: Laban, thing, we. Genesis 24:50 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 24:50 · JPS 1917

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Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said: 'The thing proceedeth from the LORD; we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.

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**Who acts:** Laban, thing, we · **What happens:** answer, say, proceed, not speak · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 24:50 · 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 (Laban, thing, 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:675
# text = Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said: 'The thing proceedeth from the LORD; we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	Laban	Laban	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	Bethuel	Bethuel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
5	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	_
10	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	proceedeth	proceed	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
17	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
21	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	20	obl	_	_
23	bad	bad	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	_
24	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	good	good	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	_
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed act=assert

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Laban and Bethuel |  |  |  | then |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Laban and Bethuel *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **proceed** | present | the thing |  |  |  |  | from the LORD | vn begin-55.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | can | we |  |  |  |  | unto thee; bad *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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וַיַּ֨עַן לָבָ֤ן וּבְתוּאֵל֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ מֵיְהוָ֖ה יָצָ֣א הַדָּבָ֑ר לֹ֥א נוּכַ֛ל דַּבֵּ֥ר אֵלֶ֖יךָ רַ֥ע אוֹ־טֽוֹב׃

[Genesis 24:50: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.24.50/)

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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:675` 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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