---
title: Daniel 2:4 (JPS 1917) — Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in Aramaic: 'O king, live for e… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in Aramaic: 'O king, live for ever! tell thy servants the dream, and we will declare the interpretation.' Who acts: Chaldeans, we. Daniel 2:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Daniel 2:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in Aramaic: 'O king, live for ever! tell thy servants the dream, and we will declare the interpretation.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Chaldeans, we · **What happens:** speak, live, tell, declare · **To what, where:** Aramaic, dream, servants, interpretation · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Daniel 2:4 · 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 (Chaldeans, we), 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:DAN:25
# text = Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in Aramaic: 'O king, live for ever! tell thy servants the dream, and we will declare the interpretation.'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Chaldeans	Chaldeans	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	Aramaic	Aramaic	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
11	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	_
12	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	13	discourse	_	_
13	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	vocative	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	15	advmod	_	_
18	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
19	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
20	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	iobj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	declare	declare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	interpretation	interpretation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
32	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=request

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | the Chaldeans |  |  | Aramaic | then | to the king | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to king=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **live** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | king *vocative* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  | the dream | thy servants |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent servant=Recipient dream=Topic |
| 4 | **declare** *speech: other* | future | we | the interpretation |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent interpretation=Attribute |

<!-- .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 Aramaic of this verse {#hebrew}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=arc -->
וַֽיְדַבְּר֧וּ הַכַּשְׂדִּ֛ים לַמֶּ֖לֶךְ אֲרָמִ֑ית מַלְכָּא֙ לְעָלְמִ֣ין חֱיִ֔י אֱמַ֥ר חֶלְמָ֛א לְעַבְדָ֖ךְ וּפִשְׁרָ֥א נְחַוֵּֽא׃

[Daniel 2:4: the Aramaic tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/DAN.2.4/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:DAN:25` 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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