---
title: Exodus 12:4 (JPS 1917) — and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his… · tree and pragmatics
description: and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbour next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man's eating ye shall make your count for the lamb. Who acts: household, lamb, ye, man. Exodus 12:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tre
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.314/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO/12/) / [12:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.12.4/) / JPS 1

# Exodus 12:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbour next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man's eating ye shall make your count for the lamb.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** household, lamb, ye, man · **What happens:** be, take, accord, make, eat · **To what, where:** one, count

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 12:4 · 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 (household, lamb, ye, man), 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:314
# text = and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbour next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man's eating ye shall make your count for the lamb.
1	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	advcl	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	lamb	lamb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
12	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
13	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
18	next	next	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
23	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	obj	_	_
24	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	case	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	fixed	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	souls	soul	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	_
31	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
32	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	37	case	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	fixed	_	_
34	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	35	det	_	_
35	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod:poss	_	_
36	's	's	PART	POS	_	35	case	_	_
37	eating	eating	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
38	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	40	nsubj	_	_
39	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
41	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	count	count	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	for	for	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	lamb	lamb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: request
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | the household |  |  |  |  | for a lamb; little *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | shall | lamb | one |  |  | then | accord the number of the souls | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 3 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **make** | shall | ye | your count |  |  |  | accord every man's eating; for the lamb | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent count=Product for lamb=Beneficiary |
| 6 | **eat** |  | every man |  |  |  |  |  | nom eating «act 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 -->
וְאִם־יִמְעַ֣ט הַבַּיִת֮ מִהְיֹ֣ת מִשֶּׂה֒ וְלָקַ֣ח ה֗וּא וּשְׁכֵנ֛וֹ הַקָּרֹ֥ב אֶל־בֵּית֖וֹ בְּמִכְסַ֣ת נְפָשֹׁ֑ת אִ֚ישׁ לְפִ֣י אָכְל֔וֹ תָּכֹ֖סּוּ עַל־הַשֶּֽׂה׃

[Exodus 12:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.12.4/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EXO:314` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Exodus 12:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.313/)
- next →: [Exodus 12:5 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.315/)
- ↑ back to [Exodus 12:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.12.4/)