---
title: Genesis 26:8 (JPS 1917) — And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimel… · tree and pragmatics
description: And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. Who acts: place, Isaac, Abimelech king. Genesis 26:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Genesis 26:8 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** place, Isaac, Abimelech king · **What happens:** come, pass, be, look out, see, sport · **To what, where:** window

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 26:8 · 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 (place, Isaac, Abimelech king), 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:741
# text = And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	11	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	cop	_	_
11	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advcl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
17	Abimelech	Abimelech	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	flat	_	_
18	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	Philistines	Philistines	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
22	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	csubj	_	_
23	out	out	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	37	discourse	_	_
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
35	Isaac	Isaac	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	sporting	sport	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	conj	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	Rebekah	Rebekah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	appos	_	_
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | place |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive | place *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past · perfect | Isaac |  |  |  | time | there *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **look out** | past | Abimelech king of the Philistines |  |  | a window |  | out *property* | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **see** | past | Abimelech king of the Philistines *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **sport** | past · progressive | Isaac |  |  |  |  | with Rebekah | 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 -->
וַיְהִ֗י כִּ֣י אָֽרְכוּ־ל֥וֹ שָׁם֙ הַיָּמִ֔ים וַיַּשְׁקֵ֗ף אֲבִימֶ֙לֶךְ֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים בְּעַ֖ד הַֽחַלּ֑וֹן וַיַּ֗רְא וְהִנֵּ֤ה יִצְחָק֙ מְצַחֵ֔ק אֵ֖ת רִבְקָ֥ה אִשְׁתּֽוֹ׃

[Genesis 26:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.26.8/)

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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:741` 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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