---
title: Exodus 16:3 (JPS 1917) — and the children of Israel said unto them: 'Would that we had died b… · tree and pragmatics
description: and the children of Israel said unto them: 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.' Who acts: children, we, ye. 
---

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# Exodus 16:3 · JPS 1917

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and the children of Israel said unto them: 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.'

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**Who acts:** children, we, ye · **What happens:** say, die, sit, eat, bring, kill · **To what, where:** bread, us, wilderness, whole assembly · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Exodus 16:3 · 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 (children, we, ye), 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:448
# text = and the children of Israel said unto them: 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.'
1	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
10	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	_
11	Would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	died	die	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	ccomp	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	30	mark	_	_
29	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
33	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
34	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	33	punct	_	_
35	pots	pot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	40	mark	_	_
38	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	advcl	_	_
41	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
42	to	to	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	full	full	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
45	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	49	punct	_	_
46	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
47	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	49	nsubj	_	_
48	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
50	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	49	obj	_	_
51	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
52	into	into	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	54	det	_	_
54	wilderness	wilderness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	advcl	_	_
58	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	60	det	_	_
59	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	assembly	assembly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	_
61	with	with	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	_
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
64	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: express
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed act=express

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the children of Israel |  |  |  |  | unto Moses | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **die** | would · perfect | we |  |  |  |  | by the hand of the LORD; in the land of Egypt | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in land=Attribute |
| 3 | **sit** | past | we |  |  |  |  | by the flesh pots | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by pot=Location |
| 4 | **eat** | past · do-support | we | bread |  |  |  | to the full | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bread=Patient |
| 5 | **bring** | present · perfect | ye | us |  | this wilderness |  | forth *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent we=Theme into wilderness=Destination |
| 6 | **kill** | to-infinitive | ye *not said here* | this whole assembly |  |  |  | with hunger | vn murder-42.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent assembly=Patient with hunger=Instrument |

<!-- .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}

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וַיֹּאמְר֨וּ אֲלֵהֶ֜ם בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל מִֽי־יִתֵּ֨ן מוּתֵ֤נוּ בְיַד־יְהוָה֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם בְּשִׁבְתֵּ֙נוּ֙ עַל־סִ֣יר הַבָּשָׂ֔ר בְּאָכְלֵ֥נוּ לֶ֖חֶם לָשֹׂ֑בַע כִּֽי־הוֹצֵאתֶ֤ם אֹתָ֙נוּ֙ אֶל־הַמִּדְבָּ֣ר הַזֶּ֔ה לְהָמִ֛ית אֶת־כָּל־הַקָּהָ֥ל הַזֶּ֖ה בָּרָעָֽב׃ס

[Exodus 16:3: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.16.3/)

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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:448` 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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