---
title: Ecclesiastes 5:3 (JPS 1917) — When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath no… · tree and pragmatics
description: When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath no pleasure in fools; pay that which thou vowest. Who acts: thou, you, God. Ecclesiastes 5:3 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 5:3 · JPS 1917

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When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath no pleasure in fools; pay that which thou vowest.

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**Who acts:** thou, you, God · **What happens:** vow, not defer, pay, have · **To what, where:** vow, pleasure, fools, that

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This is Ecclesiastes 5:3 · 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 (thou, you, God), 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:94
# text = When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath no pleasure in fools; pay that which thou vowest.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	3	mark	_	_
2	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	nsubj	_	_
3	vowest	vow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	vow	vow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	defer	defer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	hath	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
18	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	19	det	_	_
19	pleasure	pleasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	fools	fool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	_
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
23	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	parataxis	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	obj	_	_
25	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	obj	_	_
26	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	27	nsubj	_	_
27	vowest	vow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=request, form=imp, voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vow** | present | thou | a vow |  |  |  | unto God | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **defer** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn delay-53.3-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **pay** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | vow |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Asset |
| 4 | **have** | present | God | no pleasure |  | fools |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pleasure=Patient |
| 5 | **pay** | infinitive |  | that |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Asset |
| 6 | **vow** | present | thou |  |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
כַּאֲשֶׁר֩ תִּדֹּ֨ר נֶ֜דֶר לֵֽאלֹהִ֗ים אַל־תְּאַחֵר֙ לְשַׁלְּמ֔וֹ כִּ֛י אֵ֥ין חֵ֖פֶץ בַּכְּסִילִ֑ים אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־תִּדֹּ֖ר שַׁלֵּֽם׃

[Ecclesiastes 5:3: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.5.3/)

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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:94` 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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