---
title: Exodus 4:4 (JPS 1917) — And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Put forth thy hand, and take it by th… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail — and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand — Who acts: LORD, hand. Exodus 4:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Exodus 4:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail — and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand —

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** LORD, hand · **What happens:** say, put, take, lay, become, hold · **To what, where:** hand, hold, rod · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 4:4 · 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 (LORD, hand), 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:82
# text = And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail — and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand —
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Moses	Moses	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
9	Put	put	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
10	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
24	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
30	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nmod	_	_
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	rod	rod	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	xcomp	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
42	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the LORD |  |  |  |  | unto Moses | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **put** | infinitive |  | thy hand |  |  |  | forth *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent hand=Goal |
| 3 | **take** | infinitive |  | hand |  |  |  | by the tail | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **put** | past | lord | lord's hand |  |  |  | forth *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent hand=Goal |
| 5 | **lay** | past | lord *not said here* | hold of hand |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Result |
| 6 | **become** | past | hand | a rod |  |  |  | in lord's hand *result* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in hand=Result |
| 7 | **hold** |  |  | hand |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה שְׁלַח֙ יָֽדְךָ֔ וֶאֱחֹ֖ז בִּזְנָב֑וֹ וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח יָדוֹ֙ וַיַּ֣חֲזֶק בּ֔וֹ וַיְהִ֥י לְמַטֶּ֖ה בְּכַפּֽוֹ׃

[Exodus 4:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.4.4/)

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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:82` 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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