---
title: Numbers 18:17 (JPS 1917) — But the firstling of an ox, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firs… · tree and pragmatics
description: But the firstling of an ox, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt dash their blood against the altar, and shalt make their fat smoke for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD. Who acts: thou, things. Numbers 18:
---

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# Numbers 18:17 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the firstling of an ox, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt dash their blood against the altar, and shalt make their fat smoke for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

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**Who acts:** thou, things · **What happens:** not redeem, be, dash, make, smoke · **To what, where:** blood, fat smoke, offering

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Numbers 18:17 · 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 (thou, things), 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:689
# text = But the firstling of an ox, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt dash their blood against the altar, and shalt make their fat smoke for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	firstling	firstling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	dislocated	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	firstling	firstling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	firstling	firstling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
22	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	25	nsubj	_	_
23	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
25	redeem	redeem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
29	holy	holy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	parataxis	_	_
30	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
31	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	33	nsubj	_	_
32	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	dash	dash	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	parataxis	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	against	against	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	altar	altar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	conj	_	_
41	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
43	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
44	fat	fat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
46	for	for	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	offering	offering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
49	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	48	acl	_	_
50	by	by	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl:agent	_	_
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
53	for	for	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
55	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	savour	savour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
57	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	56	nmod	_	_
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: pos
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **redeem** | shall | thou |  |  |  |  | the firstling of a ox or the firstling of a sheep or the firstling of a goat *dislocated* | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | holy *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **dash** | shall | thou | things's blood |  |  |  | against the altar | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent blood=Instrument against altar=Patient |
| 4 | **make** | shall | thou *not said here* | things's fat smoke |  |  |  | for a offering; for a sweet savour unto the LORD | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: agent=Agent smoke=Product for offering=Asset |
| 5 | **make** | participle |  | a offering *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 6 | **smoke** |  | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  |  | nom smoke «phenomenon intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
אַ֣ךְ בְּֽכוֹר־שׁ֡וֹר אֽוֹ־בְכ֨וֹר כֶּ֜שֶׂב אֽוֹ־בְכ֥וֹר עֵ֛ז לֹ֥א תִפְדֶּ֖ה קֹ֣דֶשׁ הֵ֑ם אֶת־דָּמָ֞ם תִּזְרֹ֤ק עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֙חַ֙ וְאֶת־חֶלְבָּ֣ם תַּקְטִ֔יר אִשֶּׁ֛ה לְרֵ֥יחַ נִיחֹ֖חַ לַֽיהוָֽה׃

[Numbers 18:17: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.18.17/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NUM:689` 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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