---
title: Leviticus 20:17 (JPS 1917) — And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mo… · tree and pragmatics
description: And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness: it is a shameful thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.
---

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# Leviticus 20:17 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness: it is a shameful thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, woman, blood · **What happens:** take, see, be, cut off, uncover, bear · **To what, where:** sister, nakedness, shameful thing, father, sight, iniquity

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Leviticus 20:17 · 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 (man, woman, blood), 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:LEV:596
# text = And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness: it is a shameful thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	's	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	_
19	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
23	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	nakedness	nakedness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	nakedness	nakedness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
33	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	shameful	shameful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	_
37	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
39	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
40	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	aux:pass	_	_
42	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	conj	_	_
43	off	off	ADP	RP	_	42	compound:prt	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nmod	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod	_	_
53	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	56	punct	_	_
54	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
55	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
56	uncovered	uncover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	parataxis	_	_
57	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	nmod:poss	_	_
59	's	's	PART	POS	_	58	case	_	_
60	nakedness	nakedness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	_
61	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	64	punct	_	_
62	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
63	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
64	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	parataxis	_	_
65	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	66	nmod:poss	_	_
66	iniquity	iniquity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obj	_	_
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	56	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | shall | a man |  | man's sister and man's father's daughter or man's mother's daughter |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument sister=Destination |
| 2 | **see** | infinitive | a man *not said here* | woman's nakedness |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nakedness=Stimulus |
| 3 | **see** | present | woman | man's nakedness |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nakedness=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is a** | present | blood | a shameful thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **cut off** | shall · passive |  | father |  | the sight of the children of father's people |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |
| 6 | **uncover** | present · perfect | man | man's sister's nakedness |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **bear** | shall | man | man's iniquity |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent iniquity=Patient |
| 8 | **sight** |  |  | the children of father's people |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition 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 -->
וְאִ֣ישׁ אֲשֶׁר־יִקַּ֣ח אֶת־אֲחֹת֡וֹ בַּת־אָבִ֣יו א֣וֹ בַת־אִ֠מּוֹ וְרָאָ֨ה אֶת־עֶרְוָתָ֜הּ וְהִֽיא־תִרְאֶ֤ה אֶת־עֶרְוָתוֹ֙ חֶ֣סֶד ה֔וּא וְנִ֨כְרְת֔וּ לְעֵינֵ֖י בְּנֵ֣י עַמָּ֑ם עֶרְוַ֧ת אֲחֹת֛וֹ גִּלָּ֖ה עֲוֺנ֥וֹ יִשָּֽׂא׃

[Leviticus 20:17: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/LEV.20.17/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:LEV:596` 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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