---
title: Genesis 27:21 (JPS 1917) — And Isaac said unto Jacob: 'Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Isaac said unto Jacob: 'Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.' Who acts: Isaac, I, thou. Genesis 27:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 27:21 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Isaac said unto Jacob: 'Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Isaac, I, thou · **What happens:** say, come, pray, feel, be · **To what, where:** thee, very son · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 27:21 · 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, I, thou), 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:795
# text = And Isaac said unto Jacob: 'Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Isaac	Isaac	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	Jacob	Jacob	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	_
8	Come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
9	near	near	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
13	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	12	obj	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
19	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	obj	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	vocative	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
24	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
25	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	29	nsubj	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	cop	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	very	very	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	advcl	_	_
30	Esau	Esau	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	appos	_	_
31	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	conj	_	_
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
34	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Isaac |  |  |  |  | unto Jacob | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **come** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | my son *vocative*; near *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **pray** | present | I | thee |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **feel** | may | I | thee |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** | infinitive | thou | my very son |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יִצְחָק֙ אֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֔ב גְּשָׁה־נָּ֥א וַאֲמֻֽשְׁךָ֖ בְּנִ֑י הַֽאַתָּ֥ה זֶ֛ה בְּנִ֥י עֵשָׂ֖ו אִם־לֹֽא׃

[Genesis 27:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.27.21/)

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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:795` 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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- ↑ back to [Genesis 27:21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.27.21/)