---
title: Exodus 20:19 (JPS 1917) — (20-16) And they said unto Moses: 'Speak thou with us, and we will h… · tree and pragmatics
description: (20-16) And they said unto Moses: 'Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.' Who acts: people, thou, we, God. Exodus 20:19 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.572/)

<!-- 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 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO/20/) / [20:19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.20.19/) / JPS 1

# Exodus 20:19 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
(20-16) And they said unto Moses: 'Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** people, thou, we, God · **What happens:** say, speak, hear, not let, die · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 20:19 · 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, thou, we, God), 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:572
# text = (20-16) And they said unto Moses: 'Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.'
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	2	punct	_	_
2	20-16	20-16	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	6	parataxis	_	_
3	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	2	punct	_	_
4	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Moses	Moses	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
10	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	_
11	Speak	speak	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
12	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	11	nsubj	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
24	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	ccomp	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	_
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
30	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	die	die	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
33	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | people |  |  |  |  | unto Moses | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | infinitive | thou |  |  |  |  | with us | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with we=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **hear** | future | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **let** | infinitive | thou *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **speak** *speech: other* | infinitive | God |  |  |  |  | with us | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with we=Co-Agent |
| 6 | **die** | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=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 -->
וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה דַּבֵּר־אַתָּ֥ה עִמָּ֖נוּ וְנִשְׁמָ֑עָה וְאַל־יְדַבֵּ֥ר עִמָּ֛נוּ אֱלֹהִ֖ים פֶּן־נָמֽוּת׃

[Exodus 20:19: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.20.19/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EXO:572` 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 20:18 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.571/)
- next →: [Exodus 20:20 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.573/)
- ↑ back to [Exodus 20:19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.20.19/)