--- title: Exodus 1:16 (JPS 1917) — and he said: 'When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women… · tree and pragmatics description: and he said: 'When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, ye shall look upon the birthstool: if it be a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.' Who acts: king, ye, office, Shiphrah. Exodus 1:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.17/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Torah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/) / [Exodus](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO/) / [chapter 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO/1/) / [1:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.1.16/) / JPS 1 # Exodus 1:16 · JPS 1917 and he said: 'When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, ye shall look upon the birthstool: if it be a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.' **Who acts:** king, ye, office, Shiphrah · **What happens:** say, do, look, be, kill, live · **To what, where:** office, son, king, daughter · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is Exodus 1:16 · 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 (king, ye, office, Shiphrah), 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:17 # text = and he said: 'When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, ye shall look upon the birthstool: if it be a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.' 1 and and CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 : : PUNCT : _ 3 punct _ _ 5 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 21 punct _ _ 6 When when SCONJ WRB _ 8 mark _ _ 7 ye ye PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 8 nsubj _ _ 8 do do VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 21 advcl _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 office office NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 midwife midwife NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nmod _ _ 14 to to ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 16 Hebrew Hebrew PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 compound _ _ 17 women woman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obl _ _ 18 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 19 ye ye PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 21 nsubj _ _ 20 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 look look VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 ccomp _ _ 22 upon upon ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 birthstool birthstool NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ _ 25 : : PUNCT : _ 35 punct _ _ 26 if if SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 27 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 28 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 30 cop _ _ 29 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 advcl _ _ 31 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 32 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 35 advmod _ _ 33 ye ye PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 35 nsubj _ _ 34 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 35 kill kill VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 parataxis _ _ 36 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 obj _ _ 37 ; ; PUNCT : _ 48 punct _ _ 38 but but CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 39 if if SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 40 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 41 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 43 cop _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 daughter daughter NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 advcl _ _ 44 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 45 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 48 advmod _ _ 46 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 47 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 48 live live VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 parataxis _ _ 49 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ 50 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: statement - act: assert - voice: character - polarity: none - teacher: changed form=decl, act=assert | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | king | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **do** | present | ye | the office of a midwife | | | | to the Hebrew women | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent office=Eventuality | | 3 | **look** | shall | ye | | | | | upon the birthstool | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent upon birthstool=Theme | | 4 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | office | a son | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **kill** | shall | ye | king | | | then | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 6 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | office | a daughter | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **live** | shall | Shiphrah | | | | then | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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} וַיֹּ֗אמֶר בְּיַלֶּדְכֶן֙ אֶת־הָֽעִבְרִיּ֔וֹת וּרְאִיתֶ֖ן עַל־הָאָבְנָ֑יִם אִם־בֵּ֥ן הוּא֙ וַהֲמִתֶּ֣ן אֹת֔וֹ וְאִם־בַּ֥ת הִ֖יא וָחָֽיָה׃ [Exodus 1:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.1.16/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EXO:17` 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. - ← previous: [Exodus 1:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.16/) - next →: [Exodus 1:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.18/) - ↑ back to [Exodus 1:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.1.16/)