--- title: Nehemiah 5:8 (JPS 1917) — And I said unto them: 'We after our ability have redeemed our brethr… · tree and pragmatics description: And I said unto them: 'We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, that sold themselves unto the heathen; and would ye nevertheless sell your brethren, and should they sell themselves unto us?' Then held they their peace, and found never a word. Who acts: I, We, Jews, ye. 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Then held they their peace, and found never a word. **Who acts:** I, We, Jews, ye, rulers · **What happens:** say, redeem, sell, hold, not find, pacify · **To what, where:** brethren, rulers, peace, word · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is Nehemiah 5:8 · 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 (I, We, Jews, ye), 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:NEH:108 # text = And I said unto them: 'We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, that sold themselves unto the heathen; and would ye nevertheless sell your brethren, and should they sell themselves unto us?' Then held they their peace, and found never a word. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 unto unto ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 obl _ _ 6 : : PUNCT : _ 13 punct _ _ 7 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 13 punct _ _ 8 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 9 after after ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 ability ability NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 12 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 13 redeemed redeem VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 ccomp _ _ 14 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 brethren brethren NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 Jews Jew PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 15 appos _ _ 18 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 19 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 20 nsubj _ _ 20 sold sell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 acl:relcl _ _ 21 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 20 obj _ _ 22 unto unto ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 heathen heathen NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 25 ; ; PUNCT : _ 30 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 27 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 28 ye ye PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 30 nsubj _ _ 29 nevertheless nevertheless ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 30 sell sell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 conj _ _ 31 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 32 nmod:poss _ _ 32 brethren brethren NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obj _ _ 33 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 35 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 36 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 37 sell sell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 conj _ _ 38 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 37 obj _ _ 39 unto unto ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 37 obl _ _ 41 ? ? PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ 42 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 43 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 44 advmod _ _ 44 held hold VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 45 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 nsubj _ _ 46 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 47 nmod:poss _ _ 47 peace peace NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obj _ _ 48 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 50 found find VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 44 conj _ _ 51 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 50 advmod _ _ 52 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 word word NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obj _ _ 54 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: yes/no question - act: offer - voice: character - polarity: none - indirect: yes - teacher: kept the draft | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I | | | | | unto rulers *= ruler* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **redeem** | present · perfect | We | our brethren | | | after our ability | | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brethren=Theme | | 3 | **sell** | past | the Jews | brethren | | | | unto the heathen | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme | | 4 | **sell** | would | ye | your brethren | | | | nevertheless *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brethren=Theme | | 5 | **sell** | should | rulers *= ruler* | rulers *= ruler* | | | | unto us | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme | | 6 | **hold** | past | rulers *= ruler* | rulers's peace | | | then | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent peace=Theme | | 7 | **not** **find** | past | rulers *= ruler* *not said here* | a word | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Topic | | 8 | **pacify** | | rulers *= ruler* | | | | | | nom peace «state transitive»: poss=agent | 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} וָאֹמְרָ֣ה לָהֶ֗ם אֲנַ֣חְנוּ קָ֠נִינוּ אֶת־אַחֵ֨ינוּ הַיְּהוּדִ֜ים הַנִּמְכָּרִ֤ים לַגּוֹיִם֙ כְּדֵ֣י בָ֔נוּ וְגַם־אַתֶּ֛ם תִּמְכְּר֥וּ אֶת־אֲחֵיכֶ֖ם וְנִמְכְּרוּ־לָ֑נוּ וַֽיַּחֲרִ֔ישׁוּ וְלֹ֥א מָצְא֖וּ דָּבָֽר׃ס [Nehemiah 5:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.5.8/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NEH:108` 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. - ← previous: [Nehemiah 5:7 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.107/) - next →: [Nehemiah 5:9 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.109/) - ↑ back to [Nehemiah 5:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.5.8/)