---
title: Genesis 25:20 (JPS 1917) — And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. Who acts: Isaac. Genesis 25:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 25:20 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Isaac · **What happens:** be, take · **To what, where:** Rebekah, wife

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 25:20 · 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 (Isaac), 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:716
# text = And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	Isaac	Isaac	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	forty	forty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	9	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
10	Rebekah	Rebekah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Bethuel	Bethuel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Aramean	Aramean	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	appos	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	Paddan	Paddan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	_
22	aram	aram	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	appos	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	Laban	Laban	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	Aramean	Aramean	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	appos	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	cop	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	acl	_	_
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Isaac |  |  |  | year | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | past | Isaac |  | Rebekah |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument rebekah=Destination |
| 3 | **is a** | to-infinitive | Isaac *not said here* | Isaac's wife |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
וַיְהִ֤י יִצְחָק֙ בֶּן־אַרְבָּעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה בְּקַחְתּ֣וֹ אֶת־רִבְקָ֗ה בַּת־בְּתוּאֵל֙ הָֽאֲרַמִּ֔י מִפַּדַּ֖נ אֲרָ֑ם פַּדַּ֖נ אֲרָ֑ם אֲח֛וֹת לָבָ֥ן הָאֲרַמִּ֖י ל֥וֹ לְאִשָּֽׁה׃

[Genesis 25:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.25.20/)

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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:716` 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 25:19 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.715/)
- next →: [Genesis 25:21 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.717/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 25:20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.25.20/)