---
title: Ecclesiastes 11:2 (JPS 1917) — Divide a portion into seven, yea, even into eight; for thou knowest… · tree and pragmatics
description: Divide a portion into seven, yea, even into eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. Who acts: you, thou, evil. Ecclesiastes 11:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 11:2 · JPS 1917

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Divide a portion into seven, yea, even into eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

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**Who acts:** you, thou, evil · **What happens:** divide, not know, be · **To what, where:** portion, seven · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Ecclesiastes 11:2 · 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 (you, thou, evil), 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:209
# text = Divide a portion into seven, yea, even into eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
1	Divide	divide	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	obl	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	yea	yea	INTJ	UH	_	1	discourse	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	even	even	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	into	into	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	eight	eight	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	obl	_	_
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	15	nsubj	_	_
15	knowest	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
17	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	18	det	_	_
18	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
19	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	cop	_	_
21	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	ccomp	_	_
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **divide** | imperative | you *not said here* | a portion |  | seven |  | into eight | vn multiply-108-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent portion=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **know** | present | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | shall | what evil |  |  |  |  | upon the earth | 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 -->
תֶּן־חֵ֥לֶק לְשִׁבְעָ֖ה וְגַ֣ם לִשְׁמוֹנָ֑ה כִּ֚י לֹ֣א תֵדַ֔ע מַה־יִּהְיֶ֥ה רָעָ֖ה עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

[Ecclesiastes 11:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.11.2/)

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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:209` 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 11:1 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.208/)
- next →: [Ecclesiastes 11:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.210/)
- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 11:2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.11.2/)