---
title: Exodus 34:20 (JPS 1917) — And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if th… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck. Who acts: thou. Exodus 34:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Exodus 34:20 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 3

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And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck.

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**Who acts:** thou · **What happens:** redeem, not redeem, break · **To what, where:** firstling, lamb, neck

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This is Exodus 34:20 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 3 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), 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:1027
# text = And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	firstling	firstling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ass	ass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	9	nsubj	_	_
8	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	redeem	redeem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	lamb	lamb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	19	nsubj	_	_
17	wilt	will	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	redeem	redeem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
22	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	25	advmod	_	_
23	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	25	nsubj	_	_
24	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
26	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **redeem** | shall | thou | the firstling of a ass |  |  |  | with a lamb | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent firstling=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **redeem** *a condition, not said to happen* | future | thou | lamb |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **break** | shall | thou | lamb's neck |  |  | then |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer neck=Patient |

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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}

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וּפֶ֤טֶר חֲמוֹר֙ תִּפְדֶּ֣ה בְשֶׂ֔ה וְאִם־לֹ֥א תִפְדֶּ֖ה וַעֲרַפְתּ֑וֹ כֹּ֣ל בְּכ֤וֹר בָּנֶ֙יךָ֙ תִּפְדֶּ֔ה וְלֹֽא־יֵרָא֥וּ פָנַ֖י רֵיקָֽם׃

[Exodus 34:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.34.20/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. **And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck.**
2. [All the first-born of thy sons thou shalt redeem.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.1028/)
3. [And none shall appear before Me empty.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.1029/)

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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:1027` 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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- ← previous: [Exodus 34:19 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.1026/)
- next →: [Exodus 34:20 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.1028/)
- ↑ back to [Exodus 34:20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.34.20/)