---
title: Deuteronomy 31:16 (JPS 1917) — And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Behold, thou art about to sleep with… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Behold, thou art about to sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go astray after the foreign gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them. Who acts: LORD, thou, people, fat
---

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# Deuteronomy 31:16 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Behold, thou art about to sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go astray after the foreign gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them.

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**Who acts:** LORD, thou, people, fathers, I, My · **What happens:** say, be, sleep, rise up, go, forsake · **To what, where:** Me, covenant · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Deuteronomy 31:16 · 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 (LORD, thou, people, fathers), 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:870
# text = And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Behold, thou art about to sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go astray after the foreign gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Moses	Moses	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
9	Behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	13	discourse	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
11	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nsubj	_	_
12	art	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	fathers	father	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	det	_	_
22	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
23	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	rise	rise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
25	up	up	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
29	astray	astray	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	after	after	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	foreign	foreign	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	whither	whither	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	40	advmod	_	_
39	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
42	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	cop	_	_
43	among	among	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	xcomp	_	_
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
47	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	forsake	forsake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	conj	_	_
49	Me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	conj	_	_
53	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	covenant	covenant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	_
55	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	58	obj	_	_
56	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
57	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	54	acl:relcl	_	_
59	with	with	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	obl	_	_
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the LORD |  |  |  |  | unto Moses | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | thou |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **sleep** | to-infinitive | thou *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with thy fathers | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **rise up** | future | this people |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **go** | infinitive | this people *not said here* |  |  |  | after the foreign gods of the land | astray *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **go** | present | fathers *= father* |  |  |  |  | whither *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | to-infinitive | fathers *= father* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | among children *= child* | tree rules |
| 8 | **forsake** | future | fathers *= father* *not said here* | Me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **break** | infinitive | fathers *= father* *not said here* | My covenant |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer covenant=Patient |
| 10 | **make** | present · perfect | I | My covenant |  |  |  | with children *= child* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Product |
| 11 | **covenant** |  | My |  |  |  |  |  | nom covenant «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה הִנְּךָ֥ שֹׁכֵ֖ב עִם־אֲבֹתֶ֑יךָ וְקָם֩ הָעָ֨ם הַזֶּ֜ה וְזָנָ֣ה ׀ אַחֲרֵ֣י ׀ אֱלֹהֵ֣י נֵֽכַר־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר ה֤וּא בָא־שָׁ֙מָּה֙ בְּקִרְבּ֔וֹ וַעֲזָבַ֕נִי וְהֵפֵר֙ אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֥ר כָּרַ֖תִּי אִתּֽוֹ׃

[Deuteronomy 31:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.31.16/)

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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:870` 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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