---
title: Exodus 4:21 (JPS 1917) — And the LORD said unto Moses: 'When thou goest back into Egypt, see… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the LORD said unto Moses: 'When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thy hand; but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. Who acts: LORD, thou, I, people. Exodus 4:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# Exodus 4:21 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thy hand; but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.

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**Who acts:** LORD, thou, I, people · **What happens:** say, go back, see, do, put, harden · **To what, where:** Egypt, wonders, hand, heart, people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 4:21 · 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, I, people), 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:EXO:101
# text = And the LORD said unto Moses: 'When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thy hand; but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.
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	:	_	4	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	_
9	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	11	mark	_	_
10	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	11	nsubj	_	_
11	goest	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
12	back	back	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	into	into	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
16	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	19	nsubj	_	_
19	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
20	before	before	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	Pharaoh	Pharaoh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	24	det:predet	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	wonders	wonder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
25	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	obj	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	acl:relcl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	harden	harden	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
42	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
43	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	44	advmod	_	_
44	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obj	_	_
47	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .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 clause=Topic |
| 2 | **go back** | present | thou |  |  | Egypt |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **see** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **do** | present | thou | all wonders |  |  | before Pharaoh |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wonder=Eventuality |
| 5 | **put** | present · perfect | I | all wonders |  | thy hand |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent which=Theme in hand=Destination |
| 6 | **harden** | future | I | Moses's heart |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent heart=Patient |
| 7 | **not** **let** | future | lord | the people |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **go** | infinitive | the people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «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 -->
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהוָה֮ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה֒ בְּלֶכְתְּךָ֙ לָשׁ֣וּב מִצְרַ֔יְמָה רְאֵ֗ה כָּל־הַמֹּֽפְתִים֙ אֲשֶׁר־שַׂ֣מְתִּי בְיָדֶ֔ךָ וַעֲשִׂיתָ֖ם לִפְנֵ֣י פַרְעֹ֑ה וַאֲנִי֙ אֲחַזֵּ֣ק אֶת־לִבּ֔וֹ וְלֹ֥א יְשַׁלַּ֖ח אֶת־הָעָֽם׃

[Exodus 4:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.4.21/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EXO:101` 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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