---
title: Exodus 14:12 (JPS 1917) — For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we shoul… · tree and pragmatics
description: For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.' Who acts: us, we. Exodus 14:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Exodus 14:12 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2

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For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.'

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**Who acts:** us, we · **What happens:** be, serve, die · **To what, where:** Egyptians

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This is Exodus 14:12 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2 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 (us, we), 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:397
# text = For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.'
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	csubj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Egyptians	egyptian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	fixed	_	_
14	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	wilderness	wilderness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
21	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **serve** | to-infinitive | us | the Egyptians |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egyptian=Attribute |
| 3 | **die** | should | we |  |  |  |  | in the wilderness | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in wilderness=Attribute |

<!-- .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 -->
הֲלֹא־זֶ֣ה הַדָּבָ֗ר אֲשֶׁר֩ דִּבַּ֨רְנוּ אֵלֶ֤יךָ בְמִצְרַ֙יִם֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר חֲדַ֥ל מִמֶּ֖נּוּ וְנַֽעַבְדָ֣ה אֶת־מִצְרָ֑יִם כִּ֣י ט֥וֹב לָ֙נוּ֙ עֲבֹ֣ד אֶת־מִצְרַ֔יִם מִמֻּתֵ֖נוּ בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃

[Exodus 14:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.14.12/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. [Is not this the word that we spoke unto thee in Egypt, saying: Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.396/)
2. **For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.'**

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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:397` 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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