---
title: Deuteronomy 20:20 (JPS 1917) — Only the trees of which thou knowest that they are not trees for foo… · tree and pragmatics
description: Only the trees of which thou knowest that they are not trees for food, them thou mayest destroy and cut down, that thou mayest build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall. Who acts: thou, trees, city, war. Deuteronomy 20:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Deuteronomy 20:20 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only the trees of which thou knowest that they are not trees for food, them thou mayest destroy and cut down, that thou mayest build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** thou, trees, city, war · **What happens:** know, not be, destroy, cut down, build, make · **To what, where:** trees, bulwarks, war · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Deuteronomy 20:20 · 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 (thou, trees, city, war), 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:561
# text = Only the trees of which thou knowest that they are not trees for food, them thou mayest destroy and cut down, that thou mayest build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall.
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	dep	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	obl	_	_
6	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	7	nsubj	_	_
7	knowest	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	ccomp	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
17	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	19	nsubj	_	_
18	mayest	may	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
22	down	down	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	27	nsubj	_	_
26	mayest	may	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
28	bulwarks	bulwark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	_
29	against	against	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
32	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj	_	_
33	maketh	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	_
34	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	33	obl	_	_
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
39	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	fall	fall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | thou |  |  |  |  | of the trees | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of which=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **is a** | present | trees *= tree* | trees |  |  |  | for food | tree rules |
| 3 | **destroy** | may | thou | trees *= tree* |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 4 | **cut down** | infinitive | thou *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **build** | may | thou | bulwarks |  |  |  | against the city | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset bulwark=Product |
| 6 | **make** | present | the city | war |  |  |  | with thee | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset war=Product |
| 7 | **fall** | present | war |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
רַ֞ק עֵ֣ץ אֲשֶׁר־תֵּדַ֗ע כִּֽי־לֹא־עֵ֤ץ מַאֲכָל֙ ה֔וּא אֹת֥וֹ תַשְׁחִ֖ית וְכָרָ֑תָּ וּבָנִ֣יתָ מָצ֗וֹר עַל־הָעִיר֙ אֲשֶׁר־הִ֨וא עֹשָׂ֧ה עִמְּךָ֛ מִלְחָמָ֖ה עַ֥ד רִדְתָּֽהּ׃פ

[Deuteronomy 20:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.20.20/)

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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:561` 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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- ↑ back to [Deuteronomy 20:20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.20.20/)