---
title: Exodus 12:29 (JPS 1917) — And it came to pass at midnight, that the LORD smote all the firstbo… · tree and pragmatics
description: And it came to pass at midnight, that the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle. Who acts: LORD, Pharaoh, captive. Exodus 12:29 in JPS 1917 
---

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# Exodus 12:29 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And it came to pass at midnight, that the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle.

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**Who acts:** LORD, Pharaoh, captive · **What happens:** come, pass, smite, sit, be · **To what, where:** thing, firstborn, land, throne, dungeon

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 12:29 · 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, Pharaoh, captive), 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:339
# text = And it came to pass at midnight, that the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	expl	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	smote	smite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	csubj	_	_
13	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	15	det:predet	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	firstborn	firstborn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
24	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	26	amod	_	_
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	_
26	born	born	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Pharaoh	Pharaoh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
29	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
30	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	throne	throne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
36	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	38	amod	_	_
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	_
38	born	born	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	captive	captive	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	_
42	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	dungeon	dungeon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	acl:relcl	_	_
47	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	53	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
49	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	53	det:predet	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
51	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	53	amod	_	_
52	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	51	punct	_	_
53	born	born	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	cattle	cattle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	_
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=narrate

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past |  | thing |  |  | midnight |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **smite** | past | the LORD | all firstborn and all first born of cattle |  | the land of Egypt |  | from the first born of Pharaoh unto the first born of the captive | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus firstborn=Experiencer |
| 4 | **sit** | past | Pharaoh |  |  | LORD's throne |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on throne=Location |
| 5 | **is** | past | the captive |  |  | the dungeon |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיְהִ֣י ׀ בַּחֲצִ֣י הַלַּ֗יְלָה וַֽיהוָה֮ הִכָּ֣ה כָל־בְּכוֹר֮ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַיִם֒ מִבְּכֹ֤ר פַּרְעֹה֙ הַיֹּשֵׁ֣ב עַל־כִּסְא֔וֹ עַ֚ד בְּכ֣וֹר הַשְּׁבִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּבֵ֣ית הַבּ֑וֹר וְכֹ֖ל בְּכ֥וֹר בְּהֵמָֽה׃

[Exodus 12:29: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.12.29/)

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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:339` 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 12:28 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.338/)
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- ↑ back to [Exodus 12:29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.12.29/)