---
title: Joshua 20:2 (JPS 1917) — 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: Assign you the cities of r… · tree and pragmatics
description: 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: Assign you the cities of refuge, whereof I spoke unto you by the hand of Moses; Who acts: you, I. Joshua 20:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Joshua 20:2 · JPS 1917

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'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: Assign you the cities of refuge, whereof I spoke unto you by the hand of Moses;

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**Who acts:** you, I · **What happens:** speak, say, assign · **To what, where:** cities, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Joshua 20:2 · 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 (you, I), 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:JOS:544
# text = 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: Assign you the cities of refuge, whereof I spoke unto you by the hand of Moses;
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	_
2	Speak	speak	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
11	Assign	assign	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	iobj	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	refuge	refuge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	whereof	whereof	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	20	advmod	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
21	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	Moses	Moses	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the children of Israel | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to child=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **assign** | infinitive |  | the cities of refuge | you |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent you=Goal city=Theme |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | I |  |  |  |  | unto you; by the hand of Moses; whereof *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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}

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דַּבֵּ֛ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר תְּנ֤וּ לָכֶם֙ אֶת־עָרֵ֣י הַמִּקְלָ֔ט אֲשֶׁר־דִּבַּ֥רְתִּי אֲלֵיכֶ֖ם בְּיַד־מֹשֶֽׁה׃

[Joshua 20:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JOS.20.2/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JOS:544` 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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