--- title: Nehemiah 5:15 (JPS 1917) — But the former governors that were before me laid burdens upon the p… · tree and pragmatics description: But the former governors that were before me laid burdens upon the people, and took of them for bread and wine above forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants lorded over the people; but so did not I, because of the fear of God. Who acts: former governors, servants. Nehemiah 5:15 in JPS 1917 --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.117/) [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/) / [Nehemiah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH/) / [chapter 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH/5/) / [5:15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.5.15/) / JPS 1 # Nehemiah 5:15 · JPS 1917 But the former governors that were before me laid burdens upon the people, and took of them for bread and wine above forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants lorded over the people; but so did not I, because of the fear of God. **Who acts:** former governors, servants · **What happens:** be, lay, take, lord, fear · **To what, where:** burdens, forty shekels, God This is Nehemiah 5:15 · 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 (former governors, servants), 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:117 # text = But the former governors that were before me laid burdens upon the people, and took of them for bread and wine above forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants lorded over the people; but so did not I, because of the fear of God. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 former former ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 governors governor NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nsubj _ _ 5 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 8 nsubj _ _ 6 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 7 before before ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 acl:relcl _ _ 9 laid lay VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 burdens burden NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obj _ _ 11 upon upon ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obl _ _ 14 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 16 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 obl _ _ 19 for for ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 bread bread NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obl _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 wine wine NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 conj _ _ 23 above above ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 forty forty NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 25 nummod _ _ 25 shekels shekel NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obl _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 silver silver NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod _ _ 28 ; ; PUNCT : _ 34 punct _ _ 29 yea yea INTJ UH _ 34 discourse _ _ 30 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 31 even even ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 32 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 servants servant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 nsubj _ _ 34 lorded lord VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 parataxis _ _ 35 over over ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obl _ _ 38 ; ; PUNCT : _ 41 punct _ _ 39 but but CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 40 so so ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 41 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 conj _ _ 42 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 41 advmod _ _ 43 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 44 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 45 because because ADP IN ExtPos=ADP 48 case _ _ 46 of of ADP IN _ 45 fixed _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 fear fear NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 49 of of ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 50 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 48 nmod _ _ 51 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: statement - act: assert - voice: narrator - polarity: none - teacher: kept the draft | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the former governors | | | | before me | | tree rules | | 2 | **lay** | past | the former governors | burdens | | | | upon the people | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent burden=Theme upon people=Destination | | 3 | **take** | past | the former governors *not said here* | | | forty shekels of silver | | of people; for bread and wine | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP PP.source PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent of they=Source for bread=Beneficiary | | 4 | **lord** | past | people's servants | | | | | over the people | tree rules | | 5 | **fear** | | | God | | | | | nom fear «feeling transitive»: of=patient | 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} וְהַפַּחוֹת֩ הָרִאשֹׁנִ֨ים אֲשֶׁר־לְפָנַ֜י הִכְבִּ֣ידוּ עַל־הָעָ֗ם וַיִּקְח֨וּ מֵהֶ֜ם בְּלֶ֤חֶם וָיַ֙יִן֙ אַחַר֙ כֶּֽסֶף־שְׁקָלִ֣ים אַרְבָּעִ֔ים גַּ֥ם נַעֲרֵיהֶ֖ם שָׁלְט֣וּ עַל־הָעָ֑ם וַאֲנִי֙ לֹא־עָשִׂ֣יתִי כֵ֔ן מִפְּנֵ֖י יִרְאַ֥ת אֱלֹהִֽים׃ [Nehemiah 5:15: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.5.15/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NEH:117` 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 5:14 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.116/) - next →: [Nehemiah 5:16 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.118/) - ↑ back to [Nehemiah 5:15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.5.15/)