---
title: Nehemiah 4:4 (JPS 1917) — And Judah said: 'The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed,… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Judah said: 'The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.' Who acts: Judah, much rubbish, we. Nehemiah 4:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Nehemiah 4:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Judah said: 'The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Judah, much rubbish, we · **What happens:** say, decay, be, not be, build · **To what, where:** strength, wall · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Nehemiah 4:4 · 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 (Judah, much rubbish, we), 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:86
# text = And Judah said: 'The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Judah	Judah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	_
6	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bearers	bearer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	burdens	burden	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	decayed	decay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	18	expl	_	_
18	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
19	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	rubbish	rubbish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
22	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	27	mark	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	fixed	_	_
24	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	advcl	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
33	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	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 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Judah |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **decay** | present · passive |  | the strength of the bearers of burdens |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** | present | much rubbish |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **is** | present | we |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **build** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | the wall |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset wall=Product |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהוּדָ֗ה כָּשַׁל֙ כֹּ֣חַ הַסַּבָּ֔ל וְהֶעָפָ֖ר הַרְבֵּ֑ה וַאֲנַ֙חְנוּ֙ לֹ֣א נוּכַ֔ל לִבְנ֖וֹת בַּחוֹמָֽה׃

[Nehemiah 4:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.4.4/)

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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:86` 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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