---
title: Nehemiah 2:20 (JPS 1917) — Then answered I them, and said unto them: 'The God of heaven, He wil… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then answered I them, and said unto them: 'The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build; but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.' Who acts: I, God, we, ye. Nehemiah 2:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# Nehemiah 2:20 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then answered I them, and said unto them: 'The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build; but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.'

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**Who acts:** I, God, we, ye · **What happens:** answer, say, prosper, arise, build, have · **To what, where:** Sanballat, us, portion, Jerusalem · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Nehemiah 2:20 · 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, God, we, 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:34
# text = Then answered I them, and said unto them: 'The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build; but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
11	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	_
12	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	heaven	heaven	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	appos	_	_
18	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	prosper	prosper	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
20	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
22	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
23	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
24	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	appos	_	_
26	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	arise	arise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	conj	_	_
30	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
31	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	33	nsubj	_	_
33	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
34	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	35	det	_	_
35	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	38	cc	_	_
38	right	right	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	41	cc	_	_
41	memorial	memorial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	_
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	Jerusalem	Jerusalem	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
46	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | I |  | Sanballat |  | then |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unto Sanballat | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **prosper** | future | the God of heaven | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **arise** | future | we |  |  |  |  | therefore *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **build** | infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 6 | **have** | present | ye | no portion nor right nor memorial |  | Jerusalem |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent portion=Patient |

<!-- .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 -->
וָאָשִׁ֨יב אוֹתָ֜ם דָּבָ֗ר וָאוֹמַ֤ר לָהֶם֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם ה֚וּא יַצְלִ֣יחַֽ לָ֔נוּ וַאֲנַ֥חְנוּ עֲבָדָ֖יו נָק֣וּם וּבָנִ֑ינוּ וְלָכֶ֗ם אֵֽין־חֵ֧לֶק וּצְדָקָ֛ה וְזִכָּר֖וֹן בִּירוּשָׁלִָֽם׃

[Nehemiah 2:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.2.20/)

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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:34` 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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- ← previous: [Nehemiah 2:19 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.33/)
- next →: [Nehemiah 3:1 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.35/)
- ↑ back to [Nehemiah 2:20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.2.20/)