---
title: Ecclesiastes 9:4 (JPS 1917) — For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a liv… · tree and pragmatics
description: For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion. Who acts: hope, living dog. Ecclesiastes 9:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 9:4 · JPS 1917

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For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

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**Who acts:** hope, living dog · **What happens:** join, be · **To what, where:** man

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This is Ecclesiastes 9:4 · 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 (hope, living dog), 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:173
# text = For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	joined	join	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	10	det:predet	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	living	living	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	obl	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	_
12	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	hope	hope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	living	living	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	advcl	_	_
21	than	than	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- 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 | **join** | present · passive |  |  |  |  |  | to all living | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient to living=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **be** | present | hope |  | man | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | a living dog |  |  |  |  | than a dead lion; good *property* | 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}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
כִּי־מִי֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יְחֻבַּ֔ר אֶ֥ל כָּל־הַחַיִּ֖ים יֵ֣שׁ בִּטָּח֑וֹן כִּֽי־לְכֶ֤לֶב חַי֙ ה֣וּא ט֔וֹב מִן־הָאַרְיֵ֖ה הַמֵּֽת׃

[Ecclesiastes 9:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.9.4/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ECC:173` 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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