---
title: Numbers 22:4 (JPS 1917) — And Moab said unto the elders of Midian: 'Now will this multitude li… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Moab said unto the elders of Midian: 'Now will this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.' — And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. — Who acts: Moab, multitude, ox, Balak. Numbers 22:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree a
---

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# Numbers 22:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Moab said unto the elders of Midian: 'Now will this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.' — And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. —

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Moab, multitude, ox, Balak · **What happens:** say, lick up, be · **To what, where:** all, grass, king · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Numbers 22:4 · 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 (Moab, multitude, ox, Balak), 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:NUM:795
# text = And Moab said unto the elders of Midian: 'Now will this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field.' — And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. —
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Moab	Moab	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	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	elders	elder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Midian	Midian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
10	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	_
11	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
12	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	det	_	_
14	multitude	multitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	lick	lick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	all	all	PRON	DT	PronType=Tot	15	obj	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	round	round	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	acl:relcl	_	_
21	about	about	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	licketh	lick	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
28	up	up	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
35	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
36	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
37	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
38	Balak	Balak	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	appos	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	Zippor	Zippor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
44	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	Moab	Moab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	_
47	at	at	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	49	det	_	_
49	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
51	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Moab |  |  |  |  | unto the elders of Midian | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **lick up** | future | this multitude | all |  |  | now |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent all=Source |
| 3 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | about us; round *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **lick up** | present | the ox | the grass of the field |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent grass=Source |
| 5 | **is a** | past | Balak | king |  |  | time | of Moab | 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 -->
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מוֹאָ֜ב אֶל־זִקְנֵ֣י מִדְיָ֗ן עַתָּ֞ה יְלַחֲכ֤וּ הַקָּהָל֙ אֶת־כָּל־סְבִ֣יבֹתֵ֔ינוּ כִּלְחֹ֣ךְ הַשּׁ֔וֹר אֵ֖ת יֶ֣רֶק הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה וּבָלָ֧ק בֶּן־צִפּ֛וֹר מֶ֥לֶךְ לְמוֹאָ֖ב בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִֽוא׃

[Numbers 22:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.22.4/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NUM:795` 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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