---
title: Job 34:18 (JPS 1917) — Is it fit to say to a king: 'Thou art base'? · tree and pragmatics
description: Is it fit to say to a king: 'Thou art base'? Who acts: Thou. Job 34:18 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/JOB.897/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Ketuvim](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/) / [Job](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB/) / [chapter 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB/34/) / [34:18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.34.18/) / JPS 1

# Job 34:18 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Is it fit to say to a king: 'Thou art base'?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Thou · **What happens:** be, say · **To what, where:** king · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Job 34:18 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 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 (Thou), 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:JOB:897
# text = Is it fit to say to a king: 'Thou art base'?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	expl	_	_
3	fit	fit	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	csubj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
10	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	_
11	Thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nsubj	_	_
12	art	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	base	base	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
14	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: pos
- teacher: changed form=q, act=ask

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | fit *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  | a king |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to king=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | present | Thou |  |  |  |  | base *property* | 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 -->
הַאֲמֹ֣ר לְמֶ֣לֶךְ בְּלִיָּ֑עַל רָ֝שָׁ֗ע אֶל־נְדִיבִֽים׃

[Job 34:18: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.34.18/)

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

<!-- .ens -->
1. **Is it fit to say to a king: 'Thou art base'?**
2. [Or to nobles: 'Ye are wicked'? —](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/JOB.898/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JOB:897` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Job 34:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/JOB.896/)
- next →: [Job 34:18 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/JOB.898/)
- ↑ back to [Job 34:18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.34.18/)