---
title: Ezra 4:23 (JPS 1917) — Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. Who acts: companions, king Artaxerxes. Ezra 4:23 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# Ezra 4:23 · JPS 1917

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Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.

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**Who acts:** companions, king Artaxerxes · **What happens:** read, go, make, cease, copy, letter · **To what, where:** copy, Jerusalem, haste, companions, letter

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Ezra 4:23 · 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 (companions, king Artaxerxes), 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:EZR:118
# text = Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	25	advmod	_	_
2	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	11	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	copy	copy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	Artaxerxes	Artaxerxes	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	'	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	read	read	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	advcl	_	_
12	before	before	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	Rehum	Rehum	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	Shimshai	Shimshai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	scribe	scribe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	appos	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	companions	companion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	conj	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	haste	haste	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	Jerusalem	Jerusalem	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
30	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	Jews	Jew	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	cease	cease	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	xcomp	_	_
39	by	by	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	_
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	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 | **read** | past · passive |  | the copy of king Artaxerxes's letter |  |  | before Rehum and Shimshai and Rehum's companions |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **go** | past | companions *= companion* |  | Jerusalem | haste | then | unto the Jews | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to jerusalem=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **make** | past | companions *= companion* *not said here* | companions *= companion* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **cease** | to-infinitive | companions *= companion* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by force and power | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **copy** |  |  | king Artaxerxes's letter |  |  |  |  | nom copy «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 6 | **letter** |  | king Artaxerxes |  |  |  |  |  | nom letter «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 Aramaic of this verse {#hebrew}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=arc -->
אֱדַ֗יִן מִן־דִּ֞י פַּרְשֶׁ֤גֶן נִשְׁתְּוָנָא֙ דִּ֚י אַרְתַּחְשַׁ֣שְׂתְּ מַלְכָּ֔א קֱרִ֧י קֳדָם־רְח֛וּם וְשִׁמְשַׁ֥י סָפְרָ֖א וּכְנָוָתְה֑וֹן אֲזַ֨לוּ בִבְהִיל֤וּ לִירֽוּשְׁלֶם֙ עַל־יְה֣וּדָיֵ֔א וּבַטִּ֥לוּ הִמּ֖וֹ בְּאֶדְרָ֥ע וְחָֽיִל׃ס

[Ezra 4:23: the Aramaic tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EZR.4.23/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EZR:118` 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: [Ezra 4:22 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/EZR.117/)
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- ↑ back to [Ezra 4:23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EZR.4.23/)