---
title: Ecclesiastes 9:16 (JPS 1917) — Then said I: 'Wisdom is better than strength; nevertheless the poor… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said I: 'Wisdom is better than strength; nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.' Who acts: I, Wisdom, man. Ecclesiastes 9:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 9:16 · JPS 1917

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Then said I: 'Wisdom is better than strength; nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.'

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**Who acts:** I, Wisdom, man · **What happens:** say, be, despise, not hear, word · **To what, where:** wisdom, words · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Ecclesiastes 9:16 · 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 (I, Wisdom, man), 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:185
# text = Then said I: 'Wisdom is better than strength; nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
6	Wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	better	better	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	ccomp	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
12	nevertheless	nevertheless	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	's	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	despised	despise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	parataxis	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
28	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: evaluate
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed polarity=none

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | Wisdom |  |  |  |  | than strength; better *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **despise** | present · passive |  | the poor man's wisdom |  |  |  | nevertheless *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 4 | **not** **hear** | present · passive |  | man's words |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus |
| 5 | **word** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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וְאָמַ֣רְתִּי אָ֔נִי טוֹבָ֥ה חָכְמָ֖ה מִגְּבוּרָ֑ה וְחָכְמַ֤ת הַמִּסְכֵּן֙ בְּזוּיָ֔ה וּדְבָרָ֖יו אֵינָ֥ם נִשְׁמָעִֽים׃

[Ecclesiastes 9:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.9.16/)

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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:185` 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 9:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.184/)
- next →: [Ecclesiastes 9:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.186/)
- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 9:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.9.16/)