---
title: Genesis 31:31 (JPS 1917) — And Jacob answered and said to Laban: 'Because I was afraid; for I s… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Jacob answered and said to Laban: 'Because I was afraid; for I said: Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force. Who acts: Jacob, I, thou. Genesis 31:31 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 31:31 · JPS 1917

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And Jacob answered and said to Laban: 'Because I was afraid; for I said: Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force.

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**Who acts:** Jacob, I, thou · **What happens:** answer, say, be, take · **To what, where:** Laban, daughters · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Genesis 31:31 · 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 (Jacob, 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:968
# text = And Jacob answered and said to Laban: 'Because I was afraid; for I said: Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Jacob	Jacob	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Laban	Laban	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
10	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	advcl	_	_
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
19	Lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	22	nsubj	_	_
21	shouldest	should	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
23	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
25	from	from	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	_
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed polarity=none

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Jacob |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Jacob *not said here* |  | Laban |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to laban=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **take** | should | thou | thy daughters |  |  |  | from me; by force | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent daughter=Theme from i=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיַּ֥עַן יַעֲקֹ֖ב וַיֹּ֣אמֶר לְלָבָ֑ן כִּ֣י יָרֵ֔אתִי כִּ֣י אָמַ֔רְתִּי פֶּן־תִּגְזֹ֥ל אֶת־בְּנוֹתֶ֖יךָ מֵעִמִּֽי׃

[Genesis 31:31: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.31.31/)

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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:968` 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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