---
title: Exodus 32:12 (JPS 1917) — Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil did He bring… · tree and pragmatics
description: Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil did He bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Who acts: Egyptians, wrath. Exodus 32:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Exodus 32:12 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil did He bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Egyptians, wrath · **What happens:** speak, say, bring, slay, consume · **To what, where:** Egyptians, mountains, face · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 32:12 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 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 (Egyptians, wrath), 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:956
# text = Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil did He bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?
1	Wherefore	wherefore	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Egyptians	Egyptian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
9	For	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
11	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	slay	slay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	consume	consume	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: evaluate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | should | the Egyptians |  |  |  |  | wherefore *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the Egyptians *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **bring** | past · do-support | wrath | Egyptians *= egyptian* |  |  |  | for evil; forth *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 4 | **slay** | to-infinitive | wrath *not said here* | Egyptians *= egyptian* |  | the mountains |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 5 | **consume** | to-infinitive | wrath *not said here* | Egyptians *= egyptian* |  | the face of the earth |  |  | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Asset |

<!-- .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 -->
לָמָּה֩ יֹאמְר֨וּ מִצְרַ֜יִם לֵאמֹ֗ר בְּרָעָ֤ה הֽוֹצִיאָם֙ לַהֲרֹ֤ג אֹתָם֙ בֶּֽהָרִ֔ים וּ֨לְכַלֹּתָ֔ם מֵעַ֖ל פְּנֵ֣י הָֽאֲדָמָ֑ה שׁ֚וּב מֵחֲר֣וֹן אַפֶּ֔ךָ וְהִנָּחֵ֥ם עַל־הָרָעָ֖ה לְעַמֶּֽךָ׃

[Exodus 32:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.32.12/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

<!-- .ens -->
1. **Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil did He bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?**
2. [Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.957/)

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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:956` 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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