---
title: Numbers 24:12 (JPS 1917) — And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Spoke I not also to thy messengers that… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Spoke I not also to thy messengers that thou didst send unto me, saying: Who acts: Balaam, I, thou. Numbers 24:12 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.879/)

<!-- 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 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM/24/) / [24:12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.24.12/) / JPS 1

# Numbers 24:12 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Spoke I not also to thy messengers that thou didst send unto me, saying:

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Balaam, I, thou · **What happens:** say, not speak, send · **To what, where:** messengers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Numbers 24:12 · 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 (Balaam, 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:879
# text = And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Spoke I not also to thy messengers that thou didst send unto me, saying:
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Balaam	Balaam	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	_	5	case	_	_
5	Balak	Balak	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	_
8	Spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
11	also	also	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	obj	_	_
16	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	nsubj	_	_
17	didst	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl:relcl	_	_
19	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
23	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- 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 | Balaam |  |  |  |  | unto Balak | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | past | I |  |  |  |  | to thy messengers | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to messenger=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **send** | past · do-support | thou | thy messengers |  |  |  | unto me | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | thou *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר בִּלְעָ֖ם אֶל־בָּלָ֑ק הֲלֹ֗א גַּ֧ם אֶל־מַלְאָכֶ֛יךָ אֲשֶׁר־שָׁלַ֥חְתָּ אֵלַ֖י דִּבַּ֥רְתִּי לֵאמֹֽר׃

[Numbers 24:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.24.12/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NUM:879` 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 24:11 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.878/)
- next →: [Numbers 24:13 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.880/)
- ↑ back to [Numbers 24:12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.24.12/)