---
title: Exodus 4:11 (JPS 1917) — And the LORD said unto him: 'Who hath made man's mouth? or who maket… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the LORD said unto him: 'Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I the LORD? Who acts: LORD, mouth. Exodus 4:11 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Exodus 4:11 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the LORD said unto him: 'Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I the LORD?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** LORD, mouth · **What happens:** say, make, see, not be · **To what, where:** mouth, man, LORD · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 4:11 · 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, mouth), 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:89
# text = And the LORD said unto him: 'Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I the LORD?
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	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	_
9	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	11	nsubj	_	_
10	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	ccomp	_	_
12	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	nsubj	_	_
18	maketh	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	dumb	dumb	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	deaf	deaf	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	_
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	conj	_	_
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	blind	blind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	_
31	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
32	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
34	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
35	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	appos	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	parataxis	_	_
38	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	37	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the LORD |  |  |  |  | unto man | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **make** | present · perfect |  | man's mouth |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouth=Product |
| 3 | **make** | present |  | a man |  |  |  | dumb *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Product |
| 4 | **see** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **not** **is a** | present | mouth | the LORD |  |  |  |  | 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 יְהוָ֜ה אֵלָ֗יו מִ֣י שָׂ֣ם פֶּה֮ לָֽאָדָם֒ א֚וֹ מִֽי־יָשׂ֣וּם אִלֵּ֔ם א֣וֹ חֵרֵ֔שׁ א֥וֹ פִקֵּ֖חַ א֣וֹ עִוֵּ֑ר הֲלֹ֥א אָנֹכִ֖י יְהוָֽה׃

[Exodus 4:11: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.4.11/)

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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:89` 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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