---
title: Deuteronomy 20:8 (JPS 1917) — And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say: 'What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as his heart.' Who acts: officers, man, heart. Deuteronomy 20:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree an
---

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# Deuteronomy 20:8 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say: 'What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as his heart.'

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**Who acts:** officers, man, heart · **What happens:** speak, say, be, let, go, return · **To what, where:** man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Deuteronomy 20:8 · 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 (officers, man, heart), 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:549
# text = And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say: 'What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as his heart.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	officers	officer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	further	further	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
7	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
15	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
16	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	_
17	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	18	det	_	_
18	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	ccomp	_	_
21	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	fearful	fearful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	_
27	hearted	hearted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	_
28	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
29	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	conj	_	_
34	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
38	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	brethren	brethren	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nmod:poss	_	_
41	's	's	PART	POS	_	40	case	_	_
42	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
43	melt	melt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Sub|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	advcl	_	_
44	as	as	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
48	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: express
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | shall | the officers |  |  |  |  | unto the people; further *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | shall | officers *= officer* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | what man |  |  |  |  | there *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | fearful *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **let** | infinitive |  | man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **go** | infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **return** | infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unto man's house | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **melt** | present | man's brethren's heart |  |  |  |  | as man's heart | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=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 -->
וְיָסְפ֣וּ הַשֹּׁטְרִים֮ לְדַבֵּ֣ר אֶל־הָעָם֒ וְאָמְר֗וּ מִי־הָאִ֤ישׁ הַיָּרֵא֙ וְרַ֣ךְ הַלֵּבָ֔ב יֵלֵ֖ךְ וְיָשֹׁ֣ב לְבֵית֑וֹ וְלֹ֥א יִמַּ֛ס אֶת־לְבַ֥ב אֶחָ֖יו כִּלְבָבֽוֹ׃

[Deuteronomy 20:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.20.8/)

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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:549` 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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