---
title: Genesis 28:9 (JPS 1917) — so Esau went unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives that he had Mahal… · tree and pragmatics
description: so Esau went unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives that he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife. Who acts: Esau. Genesis 28:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 28:9 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
so Esau went unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives that he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Esau · **What happens:** go, take, have, be · **To what, where:** Mahalath, wives, wife

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 28:9 · 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 (Esau), 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:834
# text = so Esau went unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives that he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.
1	so	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	Esau	Esau	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Ishmael	Ishmael	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obj	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	Mahalath	Mahalath	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	appos	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	Ishmael	Ishmael	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
20	Abraham	Abraham	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	_
21	's	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	appos	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	Nebaioth	Nebaioth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	cop	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	advcl	_	_
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=narrate

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Esau |  |  |  |  | unto Ishmael | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **take** | past | Esau *not said here* |  | Mahalath |  |  | unto the wives | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument mahalath=Destination |
| 3 | **have** | past | Esau | the wives |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Patient |
| 4 | **is a** | to-infinitive | Esau *not said here* | Esau'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 -->
וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ עֵשָׂ֖ו אֶל־יִשְׁמָעֵ֑אל וַיִּקַּ֡ח אֶֽת־מָחֲלַ֣ת ׀ בַּת־יִשְׁמָעֵ֨אל בֶּן־אַבְרָהָ֜ם אֲח֧וֹת נְבָי֛וֹת עַל־נָשָׁ֖יו ל֥וֹ לְאִשָּֽׁה׃ס

[Genesis 28:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.28.9/)

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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:834` 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 28:9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.28.9/)