---
title: Nehemiah 13:17 (JPS 1917) — Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them: 'What… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them: 'What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? Who acts: I, evil thing, ye. Nehemiah 13:17 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Nehemiah 13:17 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them: 'What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, evil thing, ye · **What happens:** contend, say, be, do, profane · **To what, where:** this · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Nehemiah 13:17 · 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, evil thing, 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:423
# text = Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them: 'What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	contended	contend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	nobles	noble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Judah	Judah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	_
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
15	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	_
16	What	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	18	det	_	_
17	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	ccomp	_	_
21	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	obj	_	_
22	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	23	nsubj	_	_
23	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	profane	profane	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	sabbath	sabbath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
30	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contend** | past | I |  |  |  | then | with the nobles of Judah | vn battle-36.4 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with noble=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unto nobles *= noble* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | present | what evil thing | this |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **do** | present | ye |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality |
| 5 | **profane** | present | ye *not said here* |  |  |  | day |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
וָאָרִ֕יבָה אֵ֖ת חֹרֵ֣י יְהוּדָ֑ה וָאֹמְרָ֣ה לָהֶ֗ם מָֽה־הַדָּבָ֨ר הָרָ֤ע הַזֶּה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אַתֶּ֣ם עֹשִׂ֔ים וּֽמְחַלְּלִ֖ים אֶת־י֥וֹם הַשַּׁבָּֽת׃

[Nehemiah 13:17: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.13.17/)

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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:423` 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 13:16 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.422/)
- next →: [Nehemiah 13:18 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.424/)
- ↑ back to [Nehemiah 13:17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.13.17/)