---
title: Exodus 21:8 (JPS 1917) — If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then… · tree and pragmatics
description: If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. Who acts: wife, master. Exodus 21:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.587/)

<!-- 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 21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO/21/) / [21:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.21.8/) / JPS 1

# Exodus 21:8 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** wife, master · **What happens:** not please, espouse, let, redeem, sell, have · **To what, where:** master, wife, power · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 21:8 · 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 (wife, master), 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:587
# text = If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	please	please	VERB	VB	Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	espoused	espouse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	acl:relcl	_	_
11	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obl	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
15	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
16	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
19	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	redeemed	redeem	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	xcomp	_	_
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	sell	sell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	acl	_	_
25	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	foreign	foreign	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
33	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	34	det	_	_
34	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	advcl	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	dealt	deal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	ccomp	_	_
40	deceitfully	deceitfully	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obl	_	_
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **please** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | wife | wife's master |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus master=Experiencer |
| 2 | **espouse** | present · perfect | wife's master | wife | master |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **let** | shall | master | wife |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **redeem** | infinitive · passive | wife *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP» |
| 5 | **sell** | to-infinitive | master *not said here* | wife |  |  |  | unto a foreign people | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 6 | **have** | shall | master | no power |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent power=Patient |
| 7 | **see** | gerund | master *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 8 | **deal** | present · perfect | master |  |  |  |  | with wife; deceitfully *property* | vn cope-83 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with she=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 -->
אִם־רָעָ֞ה בְּעֵינֵ֧י אֲדֹנֶ֛יהָ אֲשֶׁר־ל֥וֹ יְעָדָ֖הּ וְהֶפְדָּ֑הּ לְעַ֥ם נָכְרִ֛י לֹא־יִמְשֹׁ֥ל לְמָכְרָ֖הּ בְּבִגְדוֹ־בָֽהּ׃

[Exodus 21:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.21.8/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EXO:587` 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 21:7 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.586/)
- next →: [Exodus 21:9 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.588/)
- ↑ back to [Exodus 21:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.21.8/)