--- title: Numbers 8:21 (JPS 1917) — And the Levites purified themselves, and they washed their clothes;… · tree and pragmatics description: And the Levites purified themselves, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a sacred gift before the LORD; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. Who acts: Levites, Aaron. Numbers 8:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.370/) [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/) / [Numbers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM/) / [chapter 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM/8/) / [8:21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.8.21/) / JPS 1 # Numbers 8:21 · JPS 1917 And the Levites purified themselves, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a sacred gift before the LORD; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. **Who acts:** Levites, Aaron · **What happens:** purify, wash, offer, make, cleanse · **To what, where:** Levites, clothes, atonement This is Numbers 8:21 · 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 (Levites, Aaron), 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:NUM:370 # text = And the Levites purified themselves, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a sacred gift before the LORD; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 Levites Levite NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 4 purified purify VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 4 obj _ _ 6 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 8 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 washed wash VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 10 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 clothes clothes NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obj _ _ 12 ; ; PUNCT : _ 15 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 14 Aaron Aaron PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ _ 15 offered offer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 16 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obj _ _ 17 for for ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 sacred sacred ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 gift gift NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 21 before before ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 LORD LORD PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 24 ; ; PUNCT : _ 27 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 26 Aaron Aaron PROPN NNP Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 27 made make VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 28 atonement atonement NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 29 for for ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obl _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 cleanse cleanse VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 advcl _ _ 33 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 obj _ _ 34 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: statement - act: assert - voice: narrator - polarity: none - teacher: kept the draft | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **purify** | past | the Levites | Levites *= levite* | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient | | 2 | **wash** | past | Levites *= levite* | Levites's clothes | | | | | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clothes=Patient | | 3 | **offer** | past | Aaron | Levites *= levite* | | | before the LORD | for a sacred gift *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent they=Theme for gift=Goal | | 4 | **make** | past | Aaron | atonement | | | | for Levites *= levite* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: agent=Agent atonement=Product for they=Asset | | 5 | **cleanse** | to-infinitive | Aaron *not said here* | Levites *= levite* | | | | | vn groom-41.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient | 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} וַיִּֽתְחַטְּא֣וּ הַלְוִיִּ֗ם וַֽיְכַבְּסוּ֙ בִּגְדֵיהֶ֔ם וַיָּ֨נֶף אַהֲרֹ֥ן אֹתָ֛ם תְּנוּפָ֖ה לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה וַיְכַפֵּ֧ר עֲלֵיהֶ֛ם אַהֲרֹ֖ן לְטַהֲרָֽם׃ [Numbers 8:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.8.21/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NUM:370` 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. - ← previous: [Numbers 8:20 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.369/) - next →: [Numbers 8:22 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/NUM.371/) - ↑ back to [Numbers 8:21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.8.21/)