---
title: Exodus 4:10 (JPS 1917) — And Moses said unto the LORD: 'Oh Lord, I am not a man of words, nei… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Moses said unto the LORD: 'Oh Lord, I am not a man of words, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.' Who acts: Moses, I, Thou. Exodus 4:10 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.88/)

<!-- 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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO/4/) / [4:10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.4.10/) / JPS 1

# Exodus 4:10 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Moses said unto the LORD: 'Oh Lord, I am not a man of words, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Moses, I, Thou · **What happens:** say, not be, speak, be · **To what, where:** man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 4:10 · 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 (Moses, I, Thou), 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:88
# text = And Moses said unto the LORD: 'Oh Lord, I am not a man of words, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Moses	Moses	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	LORD	lord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	_
9	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	10	discourse	_	_
10	Lord	Lord	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	vocative	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
13	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	21	cc:preconj	_	_
21	heretofore	heretofore	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	27	cc	_	_
24	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	Thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	27	nsubj	_	_
26	hast	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	_
28	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	Thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
32	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
35	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	conj	_	_
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
45	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Moses |  |  |  |  | unto the LORD | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is a** | present | I | a man |  |  |  | of words; Lord *vocative*; heretofore *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | present · perfect | Thou |  |  |  |  | unto Thy servant | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | of speech and a slow tongue; slow *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֣ה אֶל־יְהוָה֮ בִּ֣י אֲדֹנָי֒ לֹא֩ אִ֨ישׁ דְּבָרִ֜ים אָנֹ֗כִי גַּ֤ם מִתְּמוֹל֙ גַּ֣ם מִשִּׁלְשֹׁ֔ם גַּ֛ם מֵאָ֥ז דַּבֶּרְךָאֶל־עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ כִּ֧י כְבַד־פֶּ֛ה וּכְבַ֥ד לָשׁ֖וֹן אָנֹֽכִי׃

[Exodus 4:10: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.4.10/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EXO:88` 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 4:9 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.87/)
- next →: [Exodus 4:11 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.89/)
- ↑ back to [Exodus 4:10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.4.10/)