--- title: Nehemiah 2:4 — Then the king said unto me: 'For what dost thou make request?' So I… · Hebrew, tree and pragmatics description: Then the king said unto me: 'For what dost thou make request?' So I prayed to the God of heaven. Who acts: king, thou, I. Nehemiah 2:4 in Hebrew with its dependency tree, 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/NEH.2.4/) [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/) / [Nehemiah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH/) / [chapter 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH/2/) / 2:4 # Nehemiah 2:4 נְחֶמְיָה **Who acts:** king, thou, I · **What happens:** say, make, pray · **To what, where:** request · **Speech:** someone speaks in this verse This is Nehemiah 2:4 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 — king, thou, I — and what happens in the verse to request, read clause by clause by Mova's frames. Beside it stand the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, each English sentence with a tree of its own. It is one of the 13 chapters of Nehemiah on this site, all built by Mova itself from its own trees, with no large model in between. וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לִי֙ הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ עַל־מַה־זֶּ֖ה אַתָּ֣ה מְבַקֵּ֑שׁ וָֽאֶתְפַּלֵּ֔ל אֶל־אֱלֹהֵ֖י הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ [Then the king said unto me: 'For what dost thou make request?' So I prayed to the God of heaven.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.16/) ## 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:NEH:14 # text = וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לִי֙ הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ עַל־מַה־זֶּ֖ה אַתָּ֣ה מְבַקֵּ֑שׁ וָֽאֶתְפַּלֵּ֔ל אֶל־אֱלֹהֵ֖י הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ # verse = NEH.2.4 1-2 וַיֹּ֤אמֶר _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 וַ וְ CCONJ _ _ 2 cc _ Gloss=and|Ref=NEH_2:4!1|MId=o160020040011|Strong=2050b 2 יֹּ֤אמֶר אָמַר VERB _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Sing|Person=3 0 root _ Gloss=he.said|Ref=NEH_2:4!1|MId=o160020040012|Strong=0559|Frame=A0:160020040032;|Type=wayyiqtol 3-4 לִי֙ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 ל לְ ADP _ _ 4 case _ Gloss=to|Ref=NEH_2:4!2|MId=o160020040021|Strong=3807a 4 ִי֙ הוּא PRON _ Gender=Com|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 2 obl _ Gloss=me|Ref=NEH_2:4!2|MId=o160020040022|Strong=2967a|Type=pronominal 5-6 הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5 הַ הַ DET _ PronType=Art 6 det _ Gloss=the|Ref=NEH_2:4!3|MId=o160020040031|Strong=1886a|Type=definite_article 6 מֶּ֔לֶךְ מֶלֶךְ NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ Gloss=king|Ref=NEH_2:4!3|MId=o160020040032|Strong=4428 7 עַל־ עַל ADP _ _ 8 case _ Gloss=on|Ref=NEH_2:4!4|MId=o160020040041|Strong=5921|SpaceAfter=No 8 מַה־ מָה PRON _ PronType=Int 2 ccomp _ Gloss=what?|Ref=NEH_2:4!5|MId=o160020040051|Strong=4100|Type=interrogative|SpaceAfter=No 9 זֶּ֖ה זֶה PRON _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 8 nsubj _ Gloss=this|Ref=NEH_2:4!6|MId=o160020040061|Strong=2088|Type=demonstrative 10 אַתָּ֣ה אַתָּה PRON _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ Gloss=[are].you|Ref=NEH_2:4!7|MId=o160020040071|Strong=0859|Type=personal 11 מְבַקֵּ֑שׁ בָּקַשׁ VERB _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=PIEL|Number=Sing 9 acl _ Gloss=requesting|Ref=NEH_2:4!8|MId=o160020040081|Strong=1245|Frame=A0:160020040071;A1:160020040061;|Type=participle_active 12-13 וָֽאֶתְפַּלֵּ֔ל _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 12 וָֽ וְ CCONJ _ _ 13 cc _ Gloss=and|Ref=NEH_2:4!9|MId=o160020040091|Strong=2050b 13 אֶתְפַּלֵּ֔ל פָּלַל VERB _ Gender=Com|HebBinyan=HITHPAEL|Number=Sing|Person=1 2 conj _ Gloss=I.prayed|Ref=NEH_2:4!9|MId=o160020040092|Strong=6419|Frame=A0:160010010021;|Type=wayyiqtol 14 אֶל־ אֶל ADP _ _ 15 case _ Gloss=to|Ref=NEH_2:4!10|MId=o160020040101|Strong=0413|SpaceAfter=No 15 אֱלֹהֵ֖י אֱלֹהִים NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Plur 13 obl _ Gloss=the.God|Ref=NEH_2:4!11|MId=o160020040111|Strong=0430 16-17 הַשָּׁמָֽיִם _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 16 הַ הַ DET _ PronType=Art 17 det _ Gloss=of|Ref=NEH_2:4!12|MId=o160020040121|Strong=1886a|Type=definite_article 17 שָּׁמָֽיִם שָׁמַיִם NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Plur 15 compound:smixut _ Gloss=the.heavens|Ref=NEH_2:4!12|MId=o160020040122|Strong=8064 18 ׃ ׃ PUNCT _ _ 17 punct _ Ref=NEH_2:4!12 ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: wh-question - act: ask - voice: character - speech: a frame and its quote - negation: no - the frame alone: decl · narrate · none | verb | form · stem | who (A0) | what, whom (A1) | to whom, further (A2) | who makes it happen (AA) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | יֹּאמֶר *he said* | wayyiqtol · qal | מֶּלֶךְ *king* | | | | | מְבַקֵּשׁ *requesting* | participle active · piel | אַתָּה *\[are\] you* | זֶּה *this* | | | | אֶתְפַּלֵּל *I prayed* | wayyiqtol · hithpael | | | | | 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. ## 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. [Then the king said unto me: 'For what dost thou make request?' So I prayed to the God of heaven.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.16/) **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:NEH:14`. - ← previous: [Nehemiah 2:3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.2.3/) - next →: [Nehemiah 2:5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.2.5/) - ↑ back to [Nehemiah 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH/2/)