---
title: Numbers 22:30 (JPS 1917) — And the ass said unto Balaam: 'Am not I thine ass, upon which thou h… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the ass said unto Balaam: 'Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden all thy life long unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?' And he said: 'Nay.' Who acts: ass, I, thou. Numbers 22:30 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.821/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Torah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/) / [Numbers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM/) / [chapter 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM/22/) / [22:30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.22.30/) / JPS 1

# Numbers 22:30 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the ass said unto Balaam: 'Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden all thy life long unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?' And he said: 'Nay.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** ass, I, thou · **What happens:** say, not be, ride, be, do · **To what, where:** ass, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Numbers 22:30 · 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 (ass, 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:NUM:821
# text = And the ass said unto Balaam: 'Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden all thy life long unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?' And he said: 'Nay.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	ass	ass	NOUN	NN	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	Balaam	Balaam	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
9	Am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	thine	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	ass	ass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	ccomp	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	obl	_	_
17	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	19	nsubj	_	_
18	hast	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	ridden	ride	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	acl:relcl	_	_
20	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	22	det:predet	_	_
21	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
23	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	22	advmod	_	_
24	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
27	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
29	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	31	advmod	_	_
31	wont	wont	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	parataxis	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	so	so	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
35	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	33	obl	_	_
37	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	_
38	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	31	punct	_	_
39	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
42	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
43	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	44	punct	_	_
44	Nay	nay	INTJ	UH	_	41	ccomp	_	_
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	44	punct	_	_
46	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	44	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed form=q, act=ask, indirect=1

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the ass |  |  |  |  | unto Balaam | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is a** | present | I | thine ass |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **ride** | present · perfect | thou | thy life |  |  | day | upon thine ass | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  | ever | wont *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **do** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unto thee | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | ass |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
וַתֹּ֨אמֶר הָאָת֜וֹן אֶל־בִּלְעָ֗ם הֲלוֹא֩ אָנֹכִ֨י אֲתֹֽנְךָ֜ אֲשֶׁר־רָכַ֣בְתָּ עָלַ֗י מֵעֽוֹדְךָ֙ עַד־הַיּ֣וֹם הַזֶּ֔ה הַֽהַסְכֵּ֣ן הִסְכַּ֔נְתִּי לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת לְךָ֖ כֹּ֑ה וַיֹּ֖אמֶר לֹֽא׃

[Numbers 22:30: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.22.30/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NUM:821` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Numbers 22:29 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.820/)
- next →: [Numbers 22:31 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.822/)
- ↑ back to [Numbers 22:30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.22.30/)