---
title: Ecclesiastes 6:12 (JPS 1917) — For who knoweth what is good for man in his life, all the days of hi… · tree and pragmatics
description: For who knoweth what is good for man in his life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? Who acts: appetite. Ecclesiastes 6:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 6:12 · JPS 1917

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For who knoweth what is good for man in his life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

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**Who acts:** appetite · **What happens:** know, be, spend, tell · **To what, where:** life, vain life, man, sun · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Ecclesiastes 6:12 · 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 (appetite), 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:ECC:122
# text = For who knoweth what is good for man in his life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knoweth	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	15	det:predet	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	obj	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	spendeth	spend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
27	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	30	nsubj	_	_
29	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	iobj	_	_
33	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	37	nsubj	_	_
34	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
35	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	cop	_	_
36	after	after	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	ccomp	_	_
38	under	under	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
41	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present |  |  |  |  | day |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  | appetite's life |  | for man; good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **spend** | present | appetite | appetite's vain life |  |  |  | as a shadow | vn spend\_time-104 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent which=Duration as shadow=Attribute |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | can |  |  | a man |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent man=Recipient |
| 5 | **is** | shall |  |  |  | the sun | after appetite |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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}

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כִּ֣י מִֽי־יוֹדֵעַ֩ מַה־טּ֨וֹב לָֽאָדָ֜ם בַּֽחַיִּ֗ים מִסְפַּ֛ר יְמֵי־חַיֵּ֥י הֶבְל֖וֹ וְיַעֲשֵׂ֣ם כַּצֵּ֑ל אֲשֶׁר֙ מִֽי־יַגִּ֣יד לָֽאָדָ֔ם מַה־יִּהְיֶ֥ה אַחֲרָ֖יו תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃

[Ecclesiastes 6:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.6.12/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ECC:122` 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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- ← previous: [Ecclesiastes 6:11 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.121/)
- next →: [Ecclesiastes 7:1 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.123/)
- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 6:12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.6.12/)