---
title: Deuteronomy 18:21 (JPS 1917) — And if thou say in thy heart: 'How shall we know the word which the… · tree and pragmatics
description: And if thou say in thy heart: 'How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?' Who acts: thou, we, LORD. Deuteronomy 18:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Deuteronomy 18:21 · JPS 1917

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And if thou say in thy heart: 'How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?'

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**Who acts:** thou, we, LORD · **What happens:** say, know, not speak · **To what, where:** heart, word · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Deuteronomy 18:21 · 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, we, LORD), 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:519
# text = And if thou say in thy heart: 'How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
10	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
11	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
19	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	acl:relcl	_	_
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
23	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: wh-question
- 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* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | thou |  |  | thy heart |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in heart=Manner |
| 2 | **know** | shall | we | the word |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus |
| 3 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | present · perfect | the LORD | the word |  |  |  |  | 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}

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וְכִ֥י תֹאמַ֖ר בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָ אֵיכָה֙ נֵדַ֣ע אֶת־הַדָּבָ֔ר אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹא־דִבְּר֖וֹ יְהוָֽה׃

[Deuteronomy 18:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.18.21/)

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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:519` 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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