--- title: Numbers 23:8 (JPS 1917) — How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? · tree and pragmatics description: How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Who acts: I, God. Numbers 23:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.840/) [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 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM/23/) / [23:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.23.8/) / JPS 1 # Numbers 23:8 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? **Who acts:** I, God · **What happens:** curse, not curse This is Numbers 23:8 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 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 (I, God), 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:840 # text = How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? 1 How how ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ _ 2 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 3 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 curse curse VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 5 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 6 whom whom PRON WP PronType=Rel 10 obj _ _ 7 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 8 hath have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 9 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 10 advmod _ _ 10 cursed curse VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 acl:relcl _ _ 11 ? ? PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: yes/no question - act: express - voice: character - polarity: none - indirect: yes - teacher: changed form=q, act=express, indirect=1 | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **curse** | shall | I | | | | | | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **not** **curse** | present · perfect | God | | | | | | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whom=Theme | 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} מָ֣ה אֶקֹּ֔ב לֹ֥א קַבֹּ֖ה אֵ֑ל וּמָ֣ה אֶזְעֹ֔ם לֹ֥א זָעַ֖ם יְהוָֽה׃ [Numbers 23:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.23.8/) This verse in JPS 1917: 1. **How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?** 2. [And how shall I execrate, whom the LORD hath not execrated?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.841/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NUM:840` 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. - ← previous: [Numbers 23:7 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.839/) - next →: [Numbers 23:8 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.841/) - ↑ back to [Numbers 23:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.23.8/)