---
title: Esther 6:13 (JPS 1917) — Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him: 'If Mordecai, b… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him: 'If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.' Who acts: wise men, thou, Mordecai. Esther 6:13 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# Esther 6:13 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2

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Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him: 'If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.'

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**Who acts:** wise men, thou, Mordecai · **What happens:** say, begin, fall, be, not prevail · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Esther 6:13 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 2 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 (wise men, thou, Mordecai), 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:EST:110
# text = Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him: 'If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	Zeresh	Zeresh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
10	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
13	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	36	punct	_	_
14	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
15	Mordecai	Mordecai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	before	before	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	obl	_	_
19	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	21	nsubj	_	_
20	hast	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	begun	begin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	acl:relcl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	cop	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	advcl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	Jews	Jew	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	28	nmod	_	_
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	36	nsubj	_	_
34	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	36	advmod	_	_
36	prevail	prevail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
37	against	against	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
40	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
41	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
44	before	before	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obl	_	_
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
47	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: suggest
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Haman's wise men and Zeresh |  |  |  | then | unto Haman | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **begin** | present · perfect | thou |  |  |  | before Mordecai |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **fall** | to-infinitive | thou *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | Mordecai |  |  |  |  | of the seed; of the Jews | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **prevail** | shall | thou |  |  |  |  | against Haman | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme against he=Location |
| 6 | **fall** | shall | thou *not said here* |  |  |  | before Haman | surely *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before he=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיְסַפֵּ֨ר הָמָ֜ן לְזֶ֤רֶשׁ אִשְׁתּוֹ֙ וּלְכָל־אֹ֣הֲבָ֔יו אֵ֖ת כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר קָרָ֑הוּ וַיֹּ֩אמְרוּ֩ל֨וֹ חֲכָמָ֜יו וְזֶ֣רֶשׁ אִשְׁתּ֗וֹ אִ֣ם מִזֶּ֣רַע הַיְּהוּדִ֡ים מָרְדֳּכַ֞י אֲשֶׁר֩ הַחִלּ֨וֹתָ לִנְפֹּ֤ל לְפָנָיו֙ לֹא־תוּכַ֣ל ל֔וֹ כִּֽי־נָפ֥וֹל תִּפּ֖וֹל לְפָנָֽיו׃

[Esther 6:13: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.6.13/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

<!-- .ens -->
1. [And Haman recounted unto Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/EST.109/)
2. **Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him: 'If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.'**

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EST:110` 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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