---
title: Genesis 4:9 (JPS 1917) — And the LORD said unto Cain: 'Where is Abel thy brother?' And he sai… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the LORD said unto Cain: 'Where is Abel thy brother?' And he said: 'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?' Who acts: LORD, Cain, I. Genesis 4:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 4:9 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the LORD said unto Cain: 'Where is Abel thy brother?' And he said: 'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** LORD, Cain, I · **What happens:** say, be, not know · **To what, where:** Abel, keeper · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 4:9 · 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 (LORD, Cain, I), 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:98
# text = And the LORD said unto Cain: 'Where is Abel thy brother?' And he said: 'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Cain	Cain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
9	Where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	Abel	Abel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	_
12	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
14	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
15	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
16	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
20	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	ccomp	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
25	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod:poss	_	_
29	's	's	PART	POS	_	28	case	_	_
30	keeper	keeper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	parataxis	_	_
31	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	_
32	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- 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 | the LORD |  |  |  |  | unto Cain | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | Abel |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Cain |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is a** | present | I | my brother's keeper |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־קַ֔יִן אֵ֖י הֶ֣בֶל אָחִ֑יךָ וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ לֹ֣א יָדַ֔עְתִּי הֲשֹׁמֵ֥ר אָחִ֖י אָנֹֽכִי׃

[Genesis 4:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.4.9/)

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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:98` 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.97/)
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- ↑ back to [Genesis 4:9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.4.9/)