---
title: Nehemiah 13:22 (JPS 1917) — And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and… · tree and pragmatics
description: And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Who acts: I, Levites. Nehemiah 13:22 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Nehemiah 13:22 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

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And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day.

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**Who acts:** I, Levites · **What happens:** command, purify, come, keep, sanctify · **To what, where:** Levites, gates · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Nehemiah 13:22 · 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, Levites), 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:NEH:428
# text = And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	commanded	command	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Levites	Levites	PROPN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	purify	purify	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
10	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	obj	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	sanctify	sanctify	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	advcl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	sabbath	sabbath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **command** | past | I | the Levites |  |  |  |  | vn order-58.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent levites=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **purify** | should | Levites | Levites |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient |
| 3 | **come** | should | Levites |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **keep** | infinitive | Levites *not said here* | the gates |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gate=Theme |
| 5 | **sanctify** | to-infinitive | Levites *not said here* |  |  |  | day |  | 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 -->
וָאֹמְרָ֣ה לַלְוִיִּ֗ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִֽהְי֤וּ מִֽטַּהֲרִים֙ וּבָאִים֙ שֹׁמְרִ֣ים הַשְּׁעָרִ֔ים לְקַדֵּ֖שׁ אֶת־י֣וֹם הַשַּׁבָּ֑ת גַּם־זֹאת֙ זָכְרָה־לִּ֣י אֱלֹהַ֔י וְח֥וּסָה עָלַ֖י כְּרֹ֥ב חַסְדֶּֽךָ׃פ

[Nehemiah 13:22: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.13.22/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

<!-- .ens -->
1. **And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day.**
2. [Remember unto me, O my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of Thy mercy.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.429/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NEH:428` 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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