---
title: Genesis 27:42 (JPS 1917) — And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah; and she se… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah; and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him: 'Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Who acts: Rebekah, brother. Genesis 27:42 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and th
---

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# Genesis 27:42 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah; and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him: 'Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.

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**Who acts:** Rebekah, brother · **What happens:** tell, send, call, say, touch, comfort · **To what, where:** words, Rebekah, Jacob, thee, brother, Esau · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 27:42 · 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 (Rebekah, brother), 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:820
# text = And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah; and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him: 'Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Esau	Esau	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	elder	elder	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Rebekah	Rebekah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
19	Jacob	Jacob	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
20	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
21	younger	young	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	amod	_	_
22	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
26	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	_
28	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
29	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	41	punct	_	_
30	Behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	41	discourse	_	_
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
34	Esau	Esau	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	appos	_	_
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
37	touching	touch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	41	advcl	_	_
38	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	37	obj	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
40	doth	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	comfort	comfort	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	ccomp	_	_
42	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	41	obj	_	_
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
44	purposing	purpose	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	41	advcl	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
47	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	46	obj	_	_
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed act=narrate, voice=narrator

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | the words of Esau | Rebekah |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to rebekah=Recipient |
| 2 | **send** | past | Rebekah |  |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **call** | past | Rebekah *not said here* |  | Jacob |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent jacob=Recipient |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Rebekah *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unto Esau | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **touch** | gerund | thy brother *not said here* | thee |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme thou=Co-Theme |
| 6 | **comfort** | present · do-support | thy brother | brother |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus himself=Experiencer |
| 7 | **purpose** *speech: other* | gerund | thy brother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **kill** | to-infinitive | thy brother *not said here* | thee |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Theme |
| 9 | **word** |  |  | Esau |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֻּגַּ֣ד לְרִבְקָ֔ה אֶת־דִּבְרֵ֥י עֵשָׂ֖ו בְּנָ֣הּ הַגָּדֹ֑ל וַתִּשְׁלַ֞ח וַתִּקְרָ֤א לְיַעֲקֹב֙ בְּנָ֣הּ הַקָּטָ֔ן וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלָ֔יו הִנֵּה֙ עֵשָׂ֣ו אָחִ֔יךָ מִתְנַחֵ֥ם לְךָ֖ לְהָרְגֶֽךָ׃

[Genesis 27:42: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.27.42/)

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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:820` 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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