---
title: Deuteronomy 17:4 (JPS 1917) — and it be told thee, and thou hear it, then shalt thou inquire dilig… · tree and pragmatics
description: and it be told thee, and thou hear it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel; Who acts: thou, moon. Deuteronomy 17:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Deuteronomy 17:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
and it be told thee, and thou hear it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel;

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**Who acts:** thou, moon · **What happens:** tell, hear, inquire, be, wrought · **To what, where:** moon, thee, thing, Israel · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Deuteronomy 17:4 · 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 (thou, moon), 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:481
# text = and it be told thee, and thou hear it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel;
1	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	Mood=Sub|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	4	iobj	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	9	nsubj	_	_
9	hear	hear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
13	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	15	nsubj	_	_
15	inquire	inquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
16	diligently	diligently	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	25	discourse	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	Mood=Sub|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	advcl	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
30	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	abomination	abomination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	wrought	wrought	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
39	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: request
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=request

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive · passive |  | moon | thee |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient thou=Topic |
| 2 | **hear** | present | thou | moon |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 3 | **inquire** *speech: other* | shall | thou |  |  |  | then | diligently *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | moon |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **wrought** | present · passive |  | the thing |  | Israel |  |  | 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 -->
וְהֻֽגַּד־לְךָ֖ וְשָׁמָ֑עְתָּ וְדָרַשְׁתָּ֣ הֵיטֵ֔ב וְהִנֵּ֤ה אֱמֶת֙ נָכ֣וֹן הַדָּבָ֔ר נֶעֶשְׂתָ֛ה הַתּוֹעֵבָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

[Deuteronomy 17:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.17.4/)

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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:481` 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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