---
title: Ecclesiastes 2:3 (JPS 1917) — I searched in my heart how to pamper my flesh with wine, and, my hea… · tree and pragmatics
description: I searched in my heart how to pamper my flesh with wine, and, my heart conducting itself with wisdom, how yet to lay hold on folly, till I might see which it was best for the sons of men that they should do under the heaven the few days of their life. Who acts: I, heart, it, men. Ecclesiastes 2:3 in
---

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# Ecclesiastes 2:3 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I searched in my heart how to pamper my flesh with wine, and, my heart conducting itself with wisdom, how yet to lay hold on folly, till I might see which it was best for the sons of men that they should do under the heaven the few days of their life.

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**Who acts:** I, heart, it, men · **What happens:** search, pamper, conduct, lay, see, be · **To what, where:** heart, flesh, hold, folly, heaven · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Ecclesiastes 2:3 · 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, heart, it, men), 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:20
# text = I searched in my heart how to pamper my flesh with wine, and, my heart conducting itself with wisdom, how yet to lay hold on folly, till I might see which it was best for the sons of men that they should do under the heaven the few days of their life.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	searched	search	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	pamper	pamper	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
9	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	wine	wine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	conducting	conduct	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
19	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	18	obj	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
24	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
27	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	folly	folly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	might	might	AUX	MD	_	34	aux	_	_
34	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
35	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	38	obj	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
38	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	34	ccomp	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	nmod	_	_
44	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
45	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
46	should	should	AUX	MD	_	47	aux	_	_
47	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	ccomp	_	_
48	under	under	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl:unmarked	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	_
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **search** | past | I |  |  | my heart |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in heart=Location |
| 2 | **pamper** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | my flesh |  |  |  | with wine | tree rules |
| 3 | **conduct** | gerund | my heart | heart |  |  |  | with wisdom | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent itself=Theme |
| 4 | **lay** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | hold |  | folly | yet |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hold=Theme on folly=Destination |
| 5 | **see** | might | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | for the sons of men; good *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **do** | should | men *= man* |  |  | the heaven | day |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
תַּ֣רְתִּי בְלִבִּ֔י לִמְשׁ֥וֹךְ בַּיַּ֖יִן אֶת־בְּשָׂרִ֑י וְלִבִּ֞י נֹהֵ֤ג בַּֽחָכְמָה֙ וְלֶאֱחֹ֣ז בְּסִכְל֔וּת עַ֣ד אֲשֶׁר־אֶרְאֶ֗ה אֵי־זֶ֨ה ט֜וֹב לִבְנֵ֤י הָאָדָם֙ אֲשֶׁ֤ר יַעֲשׂוּ֙ תַּ֣חַת הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם מִסְפַּ֖ר יְמֵ֥י חַיֵּיהֶֽם׃

[Ecclesiastes 2:3: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.2.3/)

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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:20` 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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- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 2:3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.2.3/)