---
title: Proverbs 4:12 (JPS 1917) — When thou goest, thy step shall not be straitened; and if thou runne… · tree and pragmatics
description: When thou goest, thy step shall not be straitened; and if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Who acts: thou, thy. Proverbs 4:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 4:12 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When thou goest, thy step shall not be straitened; and if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** thou, thy · **What happens:** go, not straiten, run, not stumble, step · **To what, where:** step

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This is Proverbs 4:12 · 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 (thou, thy), 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:PRO:102
# text = When thou goest, thy step shall not be straitened; and if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	3	mark	_	_
2	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	nsubj	_	_
3	goest	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	straitened	straiten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	15	nsubj	_	_
15	runnest	run	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	20	nsubj	_	_
18	shalt	shall	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	stumble	stumble	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed voice=character, act=assert

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | present | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **straiten** | shall · passive |  | thy step |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **run** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **stumble** | shall | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **step** |  | thy |  |  |  |  |  | nom step «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 -->
בְּֽ֭לֶכְתְּךָ לֹא־יֵצַ֣ר צַעֲדֶ֑ךָ וְאִם־תָּ֝ר֗וּץ לֹ֣א תִכָּשֵֽׁל׃

[Proverbs 4:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.4.12/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:PRO:102` 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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