---
title: Malachi 2:14 (JPS 1917) — Yet ye say: 'Wherefore?' Because the LORD hath been witness between… · tree and pragmatics
description: Yet ye say: 'Wherefore?' Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. Who acts: ye, LORD, thou, wife. Malachi 2:14 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# Malachi 2:14 · JPS 1917

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Yet ye say: 'Wherefore?' Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.

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**Who acts:** ye, LORD, thou, wife, thy · **What happens:** say, be, deal, covenant · **To what, where:** witness, companion · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Malachi 2:14 · 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 (ye, LORD, thou, wife), 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:MAL:35
# text = Yet ye say: 'Wherefore?' Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
1	Yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	nsubj	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	_
6	Wherefore	wherefore	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
12	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	cop	_	_
14	witness	witness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	_
15	between	between	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	14	nmod	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	against	against	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	28	obl	_	_
26	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	28	nsubj	_	_
27	hast	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	dealt	deal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	acl:relcl	_	_
29	treacherously	treacherously	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
32	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
33	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
34	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	companion	companion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	advcl	_	_
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	covenant	covenant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: fragment
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | ye |  |  |  |  | wherefore *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present · perfect | the LORD | witness |  |  |  | between thee | tree rules |
| 3 | **deal** | present · perfect | thou |  |  |  |  | against the wife of thy youth; treacherously *property* | vn cope-83 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | present | wife | thy companion and the wife of thy covenant |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **covenant** |  | thy |  |  |  |  |  | nom covenant «communication intransitive»: poss=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 -->
וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם עַל־מָ֑ה עַ֡ל כִּי־יְהוָה֩ הֵעִ֨יד בֵּינְךָ֜ וּבֵ֣ין ׀ אֵ֣שֶׁת נְעוּרֶ֗יךָ אֲשֶׁ֤ר אַתָּה֙ בָּגַ֣דְתָּה בָּ֔הּ וְהִ֥יא חֲבֶרְתְּךָ֖ וְאֵ֥שֶׁת בְּרִיתֶֽךָ׃

[Malachi 2:14: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/MAL.2.14/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:MAL:35` 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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