---
title: Malachi 3:8 (JPS 1917) — But ye say: 'Wherein have we robbed Thee?' In tithes and heave-offer… · tree and pragmatics
description: But ye say: 'Wherein have we robbed Thee?' In tithes and heave-offerings. Who acts: ye, we. Malachi 3:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Malachi 3:8 · JPS 1917, sentence 3 of 3

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But ye say: 'Wherein have we robbed Thee?' In tithes and heave-offerings.

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**Who acts:** ye, we · **What happens:** say, rob · **To what, where:** Thee · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Malachi 3:8 · JPS 1917, sentence 3 of 3 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, we), 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:55
# text = But ye say: 'Wherein have we robbed Thee?' In tithes and heave-offerings.
1	But	but	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|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
6	Wherein	wherein	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	robbed	rob	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
10	Thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	9	obj	_	_
11	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
12	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
13	In	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	tithes	tithe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	parataxis	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	heave	heave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	_
18	offerings	offering	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	_
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=ask

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | ye |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **rob** | present · perfect | we | Thee |  |  |  | wherein *property* | vn cheat-10.6.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Source |

<!-- .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}

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הֲיִקְבַּ֨ע אָדָ֜ם אֱלֹהִ֗ים כִּ֤י אַתֶּם֙ קֹבְעִ֣ים אֹתִ֔י וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם בַּמֶּ֣ה קְבַעֲנ֑וּךָ הַֽמַּעֲשֵׂ֖ר וְהַתְּרוּמָֽה׃

[Malachi 3:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/MAL.3.8/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. [Will a man rob God?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/MAL.53/)
2. [Yet ye rob Me.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/MAL.54/)
3. **But ye say: 'Wherein have we robbed Thee?' In tithes and heave-offerings.**

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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:55` 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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