---
title: Lamentations 2:13 (JPS 1917) — What shall I take to witness for thee? · tree and pragmatics
description: What shall I take to witness for thee? Who acts: I. Lamentations 2:13 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/LAM.39/)

<!-- 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/) / [Lamentations](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/LAM/) / [chapter 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/LAM/2/) / [2:13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/LAM.2.13/) / JPS 1

# Lamentations 2:13 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What shall I take to witness for thee?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** take, witness

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Lamentations 2:13 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 4 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), 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:LAM:39
# text = What shall I take to witness for thee?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	witness	witness	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	4	obl	_	_
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | shall | I |  |  |  |  | for thee | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent what=Theme for thou=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **witness** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn captain-29.8-1 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=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 Hebrew of this verse {#hebrew}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
מָֽה־אֲעִידֵ֞ךְ מָ֣ה אֲדַמֶּה־לָּ֗ךְ הַבַּת֙ יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם מָ֤ה אַשְׁוֶה־לָּךְ֙ וַאֲנַֽחֲמֵ֔ךְ בְּתוּלַ֖ת בַּת־צִיּ֑וֹן כִּֽי־גָד֥וֹל כַּיָּ֛ם שִׁבְרֵ֖ךְ מִ֥י יִרְפָּא־לָֽךְ׃ס

[Lamentations 2:13: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/LAM.2.13/)

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

<!-- .ens -->
1. **What shall I take to witness for thee?**
2. [What shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/LAM.40/)
3. [What shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/LAM.41/)
4. [For thy breach is great like the sea; who can heal thee?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/LAM.42/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:LAM:39` 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: [Lamentations 2:12 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/LAM.38/)
- next →: [Lamentations 2:13 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/LAM.40/)
- ↑ back to [Lamentations 2:13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/LAM.2.13/)