---
title: Genesis 4:8 (JPS 1917) — And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up… · tree and pragmatics
description: And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. Who acts: firstlings, Cain. Genesis 4:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 4:8 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2

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And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

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**Who acts:** firstlings, Cain · **What happens:** come, pass, be, rise up, slay · **To what, where:** countenance, field, Abel, Cain

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This is Genesis 4:8 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2 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 (firstlings, Cain), 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:97
# text = And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	expl	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	12	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	Cain	Cain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	csubj	_	_
17	up	up	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	_
18	against	against	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	Abel	Abel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	slew	slay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past |  | countenance |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | firstlings *= firstling* |  |  | the field |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **rise up** | past | Cain |  |  | Abel |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent against abel=Location |
| 5 | **slay** | past | Cain *not said here* | Cain |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

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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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וַיֹּ֥אמֶר קַ֖יִן אֶל־הֶ֣בֶל אָחִ֑יו וַֽיְהִי֙ בִּהְיוֹתָ֣ם בַּשָּׂדֶ֔ה וַיָּ֥קָם קַ֛יִן אֶל־הֶ֥בֶל אָחִ֖יו וַיַּהַרְגֵֽהוּ׃

[Genesis 4:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.4.8/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. [And Cain spoke unto Abel his brother.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.96/)
2. **And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.**

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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:97` 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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- ← previous: [Genesis 4:8 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.96/)
- next →: [Genesis 4:9 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.98/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 4:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.4.8/)