---
title: Deuteronomy 21:4 (JPS 1917) — And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which may neither be plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. Who acts: elders. Deuteronomy 21:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Deuteronomy 21:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which may neither be plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** elders · **What happens:** bring down, plow, sow, break · **To what, where:** heifer, rough valley, neck, valley

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Deuteronomy 21:4 · 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 (elders), 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:565
# text = And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which may neither be plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	elders	elder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	down	down	ADV	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	heifer	heifer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	valley	valley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
19	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	23	cc:preconj	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	plowed	plow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl:relcl	_	_
22	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	23	cc	_	_
23	sown	sow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	conj	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	heifer	heifer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod:poss	_	_
30	's	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
32	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	27	advmod	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	valley	valley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bring down** | shall | the elders of that city |  | the heifer |  |  | unto a rough valley | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument heifer=Destination |
| 2 | **plow** | may · passive |  | a rough valley |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: subject=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **sow** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **break** | shall | the elders of that city *not said here* | the heifer's neck |  | the valley; there |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer neck=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 -->
וְהוֹרִ֡דוּ זִקְנֵי֩ הָעִ֨יר הַהִ֤וא אֶת־הָֽעֶגְלָה֙ אֶל־נַ֣חַל אֵיתָ֔ן אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹא־יֵעָבֵ֥ד בּ֖וֹ וְלֹ֣א יִזָּרֵ֑עַ וְעָֽרְפוּ־שָׁ֥ם אֶת־הָעֶגְלָ֖ה בַּנָּֽחַל׃

[Deuteronomy 21:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.21.4/)

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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:565` 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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