---
title: Exodus 31:16 (JPS 1917) — Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe… · tree and pragmatics
description: Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. Who acts: children. Exodus 31:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Exodus 31:16 · JPS 1917

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Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

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**Who acts:** children · **What happens:** keep, observe · **To what, where:** sabbath

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This is Exodus 31:16 · 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 (children), 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:942
# text = Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
1	Wherefore	wherefore	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	shall	shall	AUX	MD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sabbath	sabbath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	observe	observe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	sabbath	sabbath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	throughout	throughout	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	generations	generation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	perpetual	perpetual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	covenant	covenant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed act=request, indirect=1, voice=character

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | shall | the children of Israel | the sabbath |  |  |  | wherefore *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sabbath=Theme |
| 2 | **observe** | to-infinitive | the children of Israel *not said here* | the sabbath |  |  | throughout sabbaths's generations | for a perpetual covenant | vn investigate-35.4 «NP V NP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent sabbath=Location for covenant=Theme |

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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}

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וְשָׁמְר֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֶת־הַשַּׁבָּ֑ת לַעֲשׂ֧וֹת אֶת־הַשַּׁבָּ֛ת לְדֹרֹתָ֖ם בְּרִ֥ית עוֹלָֽם׃

[Exodus 31:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.31.16/)

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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:942` 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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- ← previous: [Exodus 31:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.941/)
- next →: [Exodus 31:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.943/)
- ↑ back to [Exodus 31:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.31.16/)