---
title: Ecclesiastes 3:14 (JPS 1917) — I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can… · tree and pragmatics
description: I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from it; and God hath so made it, that men should fear before Him. Who acts: I, God, men. Ecclesiastes 3:14 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 3:14 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from it; and God hath so made it, that men should fear before Him.

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**Who acts:** I, God, men · **What happens:** know, do, add, take, make, fear · **To what, where:** whatsoever, nothing, pleasure, thing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Ecclesiastes 3:14 · 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, God, 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:64
# text = I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from it; and God hath so made it, that men should fear before Him.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	whatsoever	whatsoever	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
6	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	doeth	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	11	advmod	_	_
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
15	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	added	add	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	_
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	det	_	_
24	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	_
25	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl	_	_
26	from	from	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	_
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
31	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	so	so	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	conj	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
37	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj	_	_
38	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	fear	fear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	advcl	_	_
40	before	before	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	Him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obl	_	_
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	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 | **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **do** | present | God | whatsoever |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whatsoever=Eventuality |
| 3 | **add** *speech: assert* | can · passive |  | nothing | pleasure |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient to it=Co-Patient |
| 4 | **take** | participle |  | any thing *not said here* |  | pleasure |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent from it=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **make** | present · perfect | God | pleasure |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Product |
| 6 | **fear** | should | men |  |  |  | before God |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 -->
יָדַ֗עְתִּי כִּ֠י כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֨ר יַעֲשֶׂ֤ה הָאֱלֹהִים֙ ה֚וּא יִהְיֶ֣ה לְעוֹלָ֔ם עָלָיו֙ אֵ֣ין לְהוֹסִ֔יף וּמִמֶּ֖נּוּ אֵ֣ין לִגְרֹ֑עַ וְהָאֱלֹהִ֣ים עָשָׂ֔ה שֶׁיִּֽרְא֖וּ מִלְּפָנָֽיו׃

[Ecclesiastes 3:14: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.3.14/)

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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:64` 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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