---
title: Nehemiah 2:3 (JPS 1917) — And I said unto the king: 'Let the king live for ever: why should no… · tree and pragmatics
description: And I said unto the king: 'Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?' Who acts: I, king, countenance, city. Nehemiah 2:3 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Nehemiah 2:3 · JPS 1917

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And I said unto the king: 'Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?'

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**Who acts:** I, king, countenance, city · **What happens:** say, let, live, not be, lie, consume · **To what, where:** king, waste, gates · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Nehemiah 2:3 · 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, king, countenance, city), 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:15
# text = And I said unto the king: 'Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?'
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	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
9	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	12	obl	_	_
15	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
16	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
17	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
19	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	countenance	countenance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	cop	_	_
22	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	parataxis	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
24	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	36	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	appos	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
31	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	fathers	father	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	'	's	PART	POS	_	32	case	_	_
34	sepulchres	sepulchre	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	_
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
36	lieth	lie	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
37	waste	waste	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	thereof	thereof	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
43	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	consumed	consume	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	conj	_	_
45	with	with	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
47	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
48	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed form=wh, act=ask, indirect=1, polarity=none

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  |  | unto the king | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **let** | infinitive |  | the king |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **live** | infinitive | the king *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **is** | should | my countenance |  |  |  |  | sad *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **lie** | present | the city | waste |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location waste=Theme |
| 6 | **consume** | present · passive |  | the gates |  |  |  | with fire | vn consume-66 «NP V NP»: subject=Asset |

<!-- .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 -->
וָאֹמַ֣ר לַמֶּ֔לֶךְ הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ לְעוֹלָ֣ם יִחְיֶ֑ה מַדּ֜וּעַ לֹא־יֵרְע֣וּ פָנַ֗י אֲשֶׁ֨ר הָעִ֜יר בֵּית־קִבְר֤וֹת אֲבֹתַי֙ חֲרֵבָ֔ה וּשְׁעָרֶ֖יהָ אֻכְּל֥וּ בָאֵֽשׁ׃ס

[Nehemiah 2:3: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.2.3/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NEH:15` 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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