---
title: Deuteronomy 33:9 (JPS 1917) — Who said of his father, and of his mother: 'I have not seen him'; ne… · tree and pragmatics
description: Who said of his father, and of his mother: 'I have not seen him'; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew he his own children; for they have observed Thy word, and keep Thy covenant. Who acts: I, man, children, Thy. Deuteronomy 33:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Deuteronomy 33:9 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Who said of his father, and of his mother: 'I have not seen him'; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew he his own children; for they have observed Thy word, and keep Thy covenant.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, man, children, Thy · **What happens:** say, not see, acknowledge, know, observe, keep · **To what, where:** man, brethren, own children, word, covenant · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Deuteronomy 33:9 · 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 (I, man, children, Thy), 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:946
# text = Who said of his father, and of his mother: 'I have not seen him'; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew he his own children; for they have observed Thy word, and keep Thy covenant.
1	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
12	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
20	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	23	cc	_	_
21	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	acknowledge	acknowledge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	brethren	brethren	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	28	cc	_	_
28	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
34	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
35	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	observed	observe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
38	Thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	conj	_	_
43	Thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	covenant	covenant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- 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* | past |  |  |  |  |  | of man's father and man's mother | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **see** | present · perfect | I | man |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 3 | **acknowledge** | past · do-support | man | man's brethren |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brethren=Topic |
| 4 | **know** | past | man | man's own children |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer child=Stimulus |
| 5 | **observe** | present · perfect | children *= child* | Thy word |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 6 | **keep** | infinitive | children *= child* *not said here* | Thy covenant |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent covenant=Theme |
| 7 | **word** |  | Thy |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **covenant** |  | Thy |  |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
הָאֹמֵ֞ר לְאָבִ֤יו וּלְאִמּוֹ֙ לֹ֣א רְאִיתִ֔יו וְאֶת־אֶחָיו֙ לֹ֣א הִכִּ֔יר וְאֶת־בָּנָ֖יו לֹ֣א יָדָ֑ע כִּ֤י שָֽׁמְרוּ֙ אִמְרָתֶ֔ךָ וּבְרִֽיתְךָ֖ יִנְצֹֽרוּ׃

[Deuteronomy 33:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.33.9/)

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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:946` 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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