---
title: Genesis 29:15 (JPS 1917) — And Laban said unto Jacob: 'Because thou art my brother, shouldest t… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Laban said unto Jacob: 'Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?' Who acts: Laban, thou, wages. Genesis 29:15 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 29:15 · JPS 1917

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And Laban said unto Jacob: 'Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?'

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**Who acts:** Laban, thou, wages · **What happens:** say, be, serve, tell · **To what, where:** brother, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 29:15 · 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 (Laban, thou, wages), 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:866
# text = And Laban said unto Jacob: 'Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Laban	Laban	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	:	_	17	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	_
8	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	10	nsubj	_	_
10	art	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	advcl	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	shouldest	should	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	17	nsubj	_	_
16	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
18	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	nought	nought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
22	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	parataxis	_	_
23	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	22	ccomp	_	_
26	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
27	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	wages	wage	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	cop	_	_
30	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
31	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Laban |  |  |  |  | unto Jacob | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** | present | thou *not said here* | my brother |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **serve** | should | thou | me |  |  |  | for nought; therefore *property* | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Theme for nought=Recipient |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 5 | **is a** | shall | thy wages |  |  |  |  |  | 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}

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וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לָבָן֙ לְיַעֲקֹ֔ב הֲכִי־אָחִ֣י אַ֔תָּה וַעֲבַדְתַּ֖נִי חִנָּ֑ם הַגִּ֥ידָה לִּ֖י מַה־מַּשְׂכֻּרְתֶּֽךָ׃

[Genesis 29:15: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.29.15/)

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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:866` 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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