---
title: Genesis 31:8 (JPS 1917) — If he said thus: The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the flock… · tree and pragmatics
description: If he said thus: The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said thus: The streaked shall be thy wages; then bore all the flock streaked. Who acts: God, speckled, flock, streaked. Genesis 31:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 31:8 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If he said thus: The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said thus: The streaked shall be thy wages; then bore all the flock streaked.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** God, speckled, flock, streaked · **What happens:** say, be, bear, speckle, streak · **To what, where:** wages, flock · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 31:8 · 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 (God, speckled, flock, streaked), 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:941
# text = If he said thus: The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said thus: The streaked shall be thy wages; then bore all the flock streaked.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
6	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	speckled	speckle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
8	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	cop	_	_
10	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	wages	wage	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	ccomp	_	_
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
13	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
14	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	16	det:predet	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
18	speckled	speckle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	xcomp	_	_
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	_
24	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
26	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	streaked	streak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
28	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	cop	_	_
30	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	wages	wage	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	ccomp	_	_
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
33	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	34	advmod	_	_
34	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	_
35	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	37	det:predet	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
38	streaked	streak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	xcomp	_	_
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- 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 | God |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | shall | the speckled | thy wages |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **bear** | past | all flock |  |  |  | then |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **speckle** | participle | all flock *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | God |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | shall | the streaked | thy wages |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **bear** | past |  | all flock |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **streak** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
אִם־כֹּ֣ה יֹאמַ֗ר נְקֻדִּים֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה שְׂכָרֶ֔ךָ וְיָלְד֥וּ כָל־הַצֹּ֖אן נְקֻדִּ֑ים וְאִם־כֹּ֣ה יֹאמַ֗ר עֲקֻדִּים֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה שְׂכָרֶ֔ךָ וְיָלְד֥וּ כָל־הַצֹּ֖אן עֲקֻדִּֽים׃

[Genesis 31:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.31.8/)

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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:941` 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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