---
title: Exodus 17:2 (JPS 1917) — Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said: 'Give us water tha… · tree and pragmatics
description: Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said: 'Give us water that we may drink.' And Moses said unto them: 'Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye try the LORD?' Who acts: people, we, Moses, ye. Exodus 17:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.486/)

<!-- 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 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO/17/) / [17:2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.17.2/) / JPS 1

# Exodus 17:2 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said: 'Give us water that we may drink.' And Moses said unto them: 'Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye try the LORD?'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** people, we, Moses, ye · **What happens:** strive, say, give, drink, try · **To what, where:** water, us, LORD · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 17:2 · 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 (people, we, Moses, 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:486
# text = Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said: 'Give us water that we may drink.' And Moses said unto them: 'Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye try the LORD?'
1	Wherefore	wherefore	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	strove	strive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Moses	Moses	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
11	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	_
12	Give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
13	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	iobj	_	_
14	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
20	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
21	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	Moses	Moses	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
24	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	_
26	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
27	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	_
28	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
29	strive	strive	VERB	VB	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	ccomp	_	_
30	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	29	nsubj	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	_
33	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	_
34	wherefore	wherefore	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	37	advmod	_	_
35	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	37	nsubj	_	_
37	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	_
41	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed act=ask, indirect=1

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strive** | past | the people |  |  |  |  | with Moses; wherefore *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **give** | infinitive |  | water | us |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent we=Recipient water=Theme |
| 4 | **drink** | may | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Moses |  |  |  |  | unto people | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **strive** | infinitive | ye |  |  |  |  | with me | tree rules |
| 7 | **try** | present · do-support | ye | the LORD |  |  |  | wherefore *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lord=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיָּ֤רֶב הָעָם֙ עִם־מֹשֶׁ֔ה וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ תְּנוּ־לָ֥נוּ מַ֖יִם וְנִשְׁתֶּ֑ה וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לָהֶם֙ מֹשֶׁ֔ה מַה־תְּרִיבוּן֙ עִמָּדִ֔י מַה־תְּנַסּ֖וּן אֶת־יְהוָֽה׃

[Exodus 17:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.17.2/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EXO:486` 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 17:1 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.485/)
- next →: [Exodus 17:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.487/)
- ↑ back to [Exodus 17:2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.17.2/)