---
title: Ecclesiastes 7:12 (JPS 1917) — For wisdom is a defence, even as money is a defence; but the excelle… · tree and pragmatics
description: For wisdom is a defence, even as money is a defence; but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserveth the life of him that hath it. Who acts: wisdom, money, excellency. Ecclesiastes 7:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 7:12 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
For wisdom is a defence, even as money is a defence; but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserveth the life of him that hath it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** wisdom, money, excellency · **What happens:** be, have · **To what, where:** defence, wisdom

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This is Ecclesiastes 7:12 · 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 (wisdom, money, excellency), 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:134
# text = For wisdom is a defence, even as money is a defence; but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserveth the life of him that hath it.
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	defence	defence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	even	even	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	defence	defence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	advcl	_	_
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	excellency	excellency	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	preserveth	preserve	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nmod	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
29	hath	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | wisdom | a defence |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | money | a defence |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | the excellency of knowledge |  |  |  |  | preserve *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | present |  | wisdom |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
כִּ֛י בְּצֵ֥ל הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה בְּצֵ֣ל הַכָּ֑סֶף וְיִתְר֣וֹן דַּ֔עַת הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה תְּחַיֶּ֥ה בְעָלֶֽיהָ׃

[Ecclesiastes 7:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.7.12/)

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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:134` 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 7:11 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.133/)
- next →: [Ecclesiastes 7:13 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.135/)
- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 7:12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.7.12/)