---
title: Deuteronomy 12:20 (JPS 1917) — When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as He hath promised… · tree and pragmatics
description: When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as He hath promised thee, and thou shalt say: 'I will eat flesh', because thy soul desireth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, after all the desire of thy soul. Who acts: LORD, thou, I, soul. Deuteronomy 12:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and
---

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# Deuteronomy 12:20 · JPS 1917

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When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as He hath promised thee, and thou shalt say: 'I will eat flesh', because thy soul desireth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, after all the desire of thy soul.

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**Who acts:** LORD, thou, I, soul · **What happens:** enlarge, promise, say, eat, desire · **To what, where:** border, thee, flesh, soul · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Deuteronomy 12:20 · 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 (LORD, thou, I, soul), 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:DEU:370
# text = When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as He hath promised thee, and thou shalt say: 'I will eat flesh', because thy soul desireth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, after all the desire of thy soul.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	7	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
6	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	enlarge	enlarge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	advcl	_	_
8	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	border	border	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	promised	promise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
15	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	14	obj	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	20	nsubj	_	_
19	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
21	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
22	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
26	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
27	',	',	PUNCT	''	_	25	punct	_	_
28	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
31	desireth	desire	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
35	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
36	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	38	nsubj	_	_
37	mayest	may	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
39	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
41	after	after	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	44	det:predet	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	desire	desire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	_
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	38	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=assert, voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **enlarge** | shall | the LORD | thy border |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent border=Patient |
| 2 | **promise** *speech: promise* | present · perfect | LORD | thee |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent thou=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | shall | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **eat** | future | I | flesh |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flesh=Patient |
| 5 | **desire** | present | thy soul |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 6 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | thy soul *not said here* | flesh |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flesh=Patient |
| 7 | **eat** | may | thou | flesh |  |  | after all desire of thy soul |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flesh=Patient |
| 8 | **desire** |  |  | thy soul |  |  |  |  | nom desire «feeling transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
כִּֽי־יַרְחִיב֩ יְהוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֥יךָ אֶֽת־גְּבֽוּלְךָ֮ כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר דִּבֶּר־לָךְ֒ וְאָמַרְתָּ֙ אֹכְלָ֣ה בָשָׂ֔ר כִּֽי־תְאַוֶּ֥ה נַפְשְׁךָ֖ לֶאֱכֹ֣ל בָּשָׂ֑ר בְּכָל־אַוַּ֥ת נַפְשְׁךָ֖ תֹּאכַ֥ל בָּשָֽׂר׃

[Deuteronomy 12:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.12.20/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:DEU:370` 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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