---
title: Deuteronomy 17:6 (JPS 1917) — At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is… · tree and pragmatics
description: At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. Deuteronomy 17:6 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Deuteronomy 17:6 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

<!-- .vintro -->
**What happens:** be, put, not put · **To what, where:** thing, mouth

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Deuteronomy 17:6 · 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: 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:483
# text = At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	witnesses	witness	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	witnesses	witness	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
12	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	witness	witness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	parataxis	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed act=assert, voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  | thing *not said here* |  |  |  | die *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **put** | shall · passive |  | thing |  | the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses |  | to death | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme at mouth=Destination |
| 3 | **not** **put** | shall · passive |  | thing |  | the mouth of one witness |  | to death | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme at mouth=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
עַל־פִּ֣י ׀ שְׁנַ֣יִם עֵדִ֗ים א֛וֹ שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה עֵדִ֖ים יוּמַ֣ת הַמֵּ֑ת לֹ֣א יוּמַ֔ת עַל־פִּ֖י עֵ֥ד אֶחָֽד׃

[Deuteronomy 17:6: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.17.6/)

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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:483` 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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