--- title: Ecclesiastes 7:10 — Say not thou: 'How was it that the former days were better than thes… · Hebrew, tree and pragmatics description: Say not thou: 'How was it that the former days were better than these?' for it is not out of wisdom that thou inquirest concerning this. Who acts: thou, anger. Ecclesiastes 7:10 in Hebrew with its dependency tree, the Targum, JPS 1917 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/ketuvim/ECC.7.10/) [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/) / [Ketuvim](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/) / [Ecclesiastes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC/) / [chapter 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC/7/) / 7:10 # Ecclesiastes 7:10 קֹהֶלֶת **Who acts:** thou, anger · **What happens:** not say, be, not be, inquire · **To what, where:** wisdom · **Speech:** someone speaks in this verse This is Ecclesiastes 7:10 from Mova's open Bible corpus, the Tanakh in three languages (Ketuvim — the Writings). The page gives the verse in Hebrew as the Westminster Leningrad Codex has it, its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, built from MACULA Hebrew — and its pragmatics: who acts — thou, anger — and what happens in the verse to wisdom, read clause by clause by Mova's frames. Beside it stand the Aramaic of the Targum and the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, each English sentence with a tree of its own. It is one of the 12 chapters of Ecclesiastes on this site, all built by Mova itself from its own trees, with no large model in between. אַל־תֹּאמַר֙ מֶ֣ה הָיָ֔ה שֶׁ֤הַיָּמִים֙ הָרִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ים הָי֥וּ טוֹבִ֖ים מֵאֵ֑לֶּה כִּ֛י לֹ֥א מֵחָכְמָ֖ה שָׁאַ֥לְתָּ עַל־זֶֽה׃ [Say not thou: 'How was it that the former days were better than these?' for it is not out of wisdom that thou inquirest concerning this.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.132/) ## The tree {#tree} Right to left, as the Hebrew is read; a prefix or suffix is a word of its own, and a line under the words joins those written as one. Under each word its part of speech and MACULA's English gloss. ```conllu rtl gloss # sent_id = wlc:ECC:123 # text = אַל־תֹּאמַר֙ מֶ֣ה הָיָ֔ה שֶׁ֤הַיָּמִים֙ הָרִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ים הָי֥וּ טוֹבִ֖ים מֵאֵ֑לֶּה כִּ֛י לֹ֥א מֵחָכְמָ֖ה שָׁאַ֥לְתָּ עַל־זֶֽה׃ # verse = ECC.7.10 1 אַל־ אַל ADV _ _ 2 advmod _ Gloss=do.not|Ref=ECC_7:10!1|MId=o210070100011|Strong=0408|Type=negative|SpaceAfter=No 2 תֹּאמַר֙ אָמַר VERB _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Sing|Person=2 0 root _ Gloss=say|Ref=ECC_7:10!2|MId=o210070100021|Strong=0559|Frame=A0:210120120031;|Type=jussive 3 מֶ֣ה מָה PRON _ PronType=Int 2 ccomp _ Gloss=why?|Ref=ECC_7:10!3|MId=o210070100031|Strong=4100|Type=interrogative 4 הָיָ֔ה הָיָה AUX _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Sing|Person=3 3 cop _ Gloss=was.it|Ref=ECC_7:10!4|MId=o210070100041|Strong=1961|Frame=A0:210070100071;|Type=qatal 5-7 שֶׁ֤הַיָּמִים֙ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5 שֶׁ֤ שֶׁ SCONJ _ _ 11 mark _ Gloss=(cmp)|Ref=ECC_7:10!5|MId=o210070100051|Strong=7578a|Type=relative 6 הַ הַ DET _ PronType=Art 7 det _ Gloss=the|Ref=ECC_7:10!5|MId=o210070100052|Strong=1886a|Type=definite_article 7 יָּמִים֙ יוֹם NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Plur 11 nsubj _ Gloss=days|Ref=ECC_7:10!5|MId=o210070100053|Strong=3117 8-9 הָרִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ים _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 8 הָ הַ DET _ PronType=Art 9 det _ Gloss=(the)|Ref=ECC_7:10!6|MId=o210070100061|Strong=1886a|Type=definite_article 9 רִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ים רִאשׁוֹן ADJ _ Gender=Masc|Number=Plur 7 amod _ Gloss=former|Ref=ECC_7:10!6|MId=o210070100062|Strong=7223|Type=adjective 10 הָי֥וּ הָיָה AUX _ Gender=Com|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Plur|Person=3 11 cop _ Gloss=they.were|Ref=ECC_7:10!7|MId=o210070100071|Strong=1961|Frame=A0:210070100053;|Type=qatal 11 טוֹבִ֖ים טוֹב ADJ _ Gender=Masc|Number=Plur 3 acl:relcl _ Gloss=good|Ref=ECC_7:10!8|MId=o210070100081|Strong=2896|Type=adjective 12-13 מֵאֵ֑לֶּה _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 12 מֵ מִן ADP _ _ 13 case _ Gloss=more|Ref=ECC_7:10!9|MId=o210070100091|Strong=4480 13 אֵ֑לֶּה אֵלֶּה PRON _ Gender=Com|Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 11 nmod _ Gloss=than.these|Ref=ECC_7:10!9|MId=o210070100092|Strong=0428|Type=demonstrative 14 כִּ֛י כִּי SCONJ _ _ 18 mark _ Gloss=(dm)|Ref=ECC_7:10!10|MId=o210070100101|Strong=3588 15 לֹ֥א לֹא ADV _ _ 17 advmod _ Gloss=not|Ref=ECC_7:10!11|MId=o210070100111|Strong=3808|Type=negative 16-17 מֵחָכְמָ֖ה _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 16 מֵ מִן ADP _ _ 17 case _ Gloss=from|Ref=ECC_7:10!12|MId=o210070100121|Strong=4480 17 חָכְמָ֖ה חׇכְמָה NOUN _ Gender=Fem|Number=Sing 18 obl _ Gloss=wisdom|Ref=ECC_7:10!12|MId=o210070100122|Strong=2451 18 שָׁאַ֥לְתָּ שָׁאַל VERB _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Sing|Person=2 3 advcl _ Gloss=you.have.asked|Ref=ECC_7:10!13|MId=o210070100131|Strong=7592|Frame=A0:210120120031;|Type=qatal 19 עַל־ עַל ADP _ _ 20 case _ Gloss=on|Ref=ECC_7:10!14|MId=o210070100141|Strong=5921|SpaceAfter=No 20 זֶֽה זֶה PRON _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 18 obl _ Gloss=this|Ref=ECC_7:10!15|MId=o210070100151|Strong=2088|Type=demonstrative|SpaceAfter=No 21 ׃ ׃ PUNCT _ _ 20 punct _ Ref=ECC_7:10!15 ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: wh-question - act: ask - voice: character - speech: a frame and its quote - negation: yes - the frame alone: decl · assert · neg | verb | form · stem | who (A0) | what, whom (A1) | to whom, further (A2) | who makes it happen (AA) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **not** תֹּאמַר *say* | jussive · qal | | | | | | הָיָה *was it* | qatal · qal | הָיוּ *they were* | | | | | הָיוּ *they were* | qatal · qal | יָּמִים *days* | | | | | שָׁאַלְתָּ *you have asked* | qatal · qal | | | | | MACULA's semantic frames: for each verb the head word of each participant. A0 is the one who acts, A1 what the act is done to or is about, A2 a further participant; AA, with a causative verb, the one who makes it happen. ## The Targum {#onkelos} וּבְעִדָּן עָקְתָךְ לָא תֵימַר מָה דַּהֲוָת קַדְמַת דְּנָא טָב בְּעָלְמָא דְּיוֹמִין קַדְמָאִין הֲווֹ טַבְיָין וֶאֱנָשֵׁי דָּרָא הַהוּא הֲווֹ שַׁפִּירֵי עוֹבָדָא יַתִּיר מִן אִלֵּין בְּגִין כֵּן טָבָא הֲוָה מַטֵי לְהוֹן וְאַנְתְּ לָא עַל חוּכְמְתָא שְׁאַלְתָּ עַל דְּנָא: The Aramaic translation read beside the Hebrew. Text only: Mova has no Aramaic parser yet. ## English, JPS 1917 {#english} Each sentence on its own page, with its tree and pragmatics. A sentence that runs on into the next verse is listed under the verse it begins in. 1. [Say not thou: 'How was it that the former days were better than these?' for it is not out of wisdom that thou inquirest concerning this.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.132/) **Hebrew text:** Westminster Leningrad Codex, public domain. **Tree, glosses and frames:** MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets, available at [github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew](https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew/), [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/); converted to Universal Dependencies by Mova (words in text order, a prefix its own word). **Speech act:** Mova's rules on the MACULA words (`macula prag`). **Targum:** Onkelos (Torat Emet), Jonathan and the Writings (Mikraot Gedolot), from Sefaria, public domain. **English:** JPS 1917, public domain; trees and speech acts by Mova's cycle, frames by Mova's reader (Elamur Cosmic License). Hebrew sentence `wlc:ECC:123`. - ← previous: [Ecclesiastes 7:9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.7.9/) - next →: [Ecclesiastes 7:11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.7.11/) - ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC/7/)