---
title: Exodus 13:13 (JPS 1917) — And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if… · tree and pragmatics
description: And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck; and all the first-born of man among thy sons shalt thou redeem. Who acts: thou. Exodus 13:13 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Exodus 13:13 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck; and all the first-born of man among thy sons shalt thou redeem.

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

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This is Exodus 13:13 · 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 (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:375
# text = And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck; and all the first-born of man among thy sons shalt thou redeem.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	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	:	_	42	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
30	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	34	det:predet	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
32	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	34	amod	_	_
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	_
34	born	born	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	obj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
37	among	among	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nmod	_	_
40	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	42	nsubj	_	_
42	redeem	redeem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **redeem** | shall | thou | every 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 | firstling |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **break** | shall | thou | firstling's neck |  |  | then |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer neck=Patient |
| 4 | **redeem** | shall | thou | all first born of man among thy sons |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent born=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 -->
וְכָל־פֶּ֤טֶר חֲמֹר֙ תִּפְדֶּ֣ה בְשֶׂ֔ה וְאִם־לֹ֥א תִפְדֶּ֖ה וַעֲרַפְתּ֑וֹ וְכֹ֨ל בְּכ֥וֹר אָדָ֛ם בְּבָנֶ֖יךָ תִּפְדֶּֽה׃

[Exodus 13:13: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.13.13/)

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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:375` 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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