---
title: Ecclesiastes 2:13 (JPS 1917) — Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth da… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. Who acts: I, wisdom, light. Ecclesiastes 2:13 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 2:13 · JPS 1917

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Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.

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**Who acts:** I, wisdom, light · **What happens:** see, excel · **To what, where:** folly, darkness · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Ecclesiastes 2:13 · 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, light), 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:30
# text = Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	excelleth	excel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	folly	folly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	as	as	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	excelleth	excel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
14	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | I |  |  |  | then |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **excel** | present | wisdom | folly |  |  |  | far *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **excel** | present | light | darkness |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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וְרָאִ֣יתִי אָ֔נִי שֶׁיֵּ֥שׁ יִתְר֛וֹן לַֽחָכְמָ֖ה מִן־הַסִּכְל֑וּת כִּֽיתְר֥וֹן הָא֖וֹר מִן־הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃

[Ecclesiastes 2:13: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.2.13/)

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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:30` 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 2:12 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.29/)
- next →: [Ecclesiastes 2:14 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.31/)
- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 2:13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.2.13/)