---
title: Genesis 26:9 (JPS 1917) — And Abimelech called Isaac, and said: 'Behold, of a surety she is th… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Abimelech called Isaac, and said: 'Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how saidst thou: She is my sister?' And Isaac said unto him: 'Because I said: Lest I die because of her.' Who acts: Abimelech, thou, Isaac, I. Genesis 26:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# Genesis 26:9 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Abimelech called Isaac, and said: 'Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how saidst thou: She is my sister?' And Isaac said unto him: 'Because I said: Lest I die because of her.'

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**Who acts:** Abimelech, thou, Isaac, I · **What happens:** call, say, be, die · **To what, where:** Isaac, wife, sister · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 26:9 · 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 (Abimelech, thou, Isaac, I), 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:742
# text = And Abimelech called Isaac, and said: 'Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how saidst thou: She is my sister?' And Isaac said unto him: 'Because I said: Lest I die because of her.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Abimelech	Abimelech	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	Isaac	Isaac	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
10	Behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	18	discourse	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	surety	surety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	_
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
22	saidst	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
23	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	22	nsubj	_	_
24	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
25	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	ccomp	_	_
29	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	28	punct	_	_
30	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	28	punct	_	_
31	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	Isaac	Isaac	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
33	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
34	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	_
36	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
37	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	40	punct	_	_
38	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
39	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	advcl	_	_
41	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
42	Lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
43	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	die	die	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	40	ccomp	_	_
45	because	because	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	47	case	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	fixed	_	_
47	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obl	_	_
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
49	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: disagree
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=decl, act=disagree, polarity=none

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | past | Abimelech |  | Isaac |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent isaac=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Abimelech *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | present | Abimelech | thy wife |  |  |  | of a surety | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is a** | present | Abimelech | my sister |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Isaac |  |  |  |  | unto Rebekah | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **die** | present | I |  |  |  |  | because wife | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֲבִימֶ֜לֶךְ לְיִצְחָ֗ק וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אַ֣ךְ הִנֵּ֤ה אִשְׁתְּךָ֙ הִ֔וא וְאֵ֥יךְ אָמַ֖רְתָּ אֲחֹ֣תִי הִ֑וא וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֵלָיו֙ יִצְחָ֔ק כִּ֣י אָמַ֔רְתִּי פֶּן־אָמ֖וּת עָלֶֽיהָ׃

[Genesis 26:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.26.9/)

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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:742` 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 26:8 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.741/)
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