---
title: Ecclesiastes 3:18 (JPS 1917) — I said in my heart: 'It is because of the sons of men, that God may… · tree and pragmatics
description: I said in my heart: 'It is because of the sons of men, that God may sift them, and that they may see that they themselves are but as beasts.' Who acts: I, heart, God, men. Ecclesiastes 3:18 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 3:18 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I said in my heart: 'It is because of the sons of men, that God may sift them, and that they may see that they themselves are but as beasts.'

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**Who acts:** I, heart, God, men · **What happens:** say, be, sift, see · **To what, where:** heart, men · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Ecclesiastes 3:18 · 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, 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:68
# text = I said in my heart: 'It is because of the sons of men, that God may sift them, and that they may see that they themselves are but as beasts.'
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	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	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
8	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
10	because	because	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	13	case	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	ccomp	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	sift	sift	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	29	appos	_	_
31	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	ccomp	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	as	as	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
36	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  | my heart |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in heart=Manner |
| 2 | **is** | present | heart |  |  |  |  | because the sons; of men | tree rules |
| 3 | **sift** | may | God | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 4 | **see** | may | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «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 -->
אָמַ֤רְתִּֽי אֲנִי֙ בְּלִבִּ֔י עַל־דִּבְרַת֙ בְּנֵ֣י הָאָדָ֔ם לְבָרָ֖ם הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים וְלִרְא֕וֹת שְׁהֶם־בְּהֵמָ֥ה הֵ֖מָּה לָהֶֽם׃

[Ecclesiastes 3:18: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.3.18/)

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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:68` 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 3:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.67/)
- next →: [Ecclesiastes 3:19 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.69/)
- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 3:18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.3.18/)