---
title: Proverbs 4:13 (JPS 1917) — Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is… · tree and pragmatics
description: Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life. Who acts: you, step. Proverbs 4:13 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 4:13 · JPS 1917

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Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life.

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**Who acts:** you, step · **What happens:** take, let, not go, keep, be, hold · **To what, where:** fast hold, step, life, instruction

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This is Proverbs 4:13 · 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 (you, step), 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:103
# text = Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life.
1	Take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	fast	fast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	instruction	instruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
8	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
12	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
13	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	advcl	_	_
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: command
- act: request
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | imperative | you *not said here* | fast hold of instruction |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme |
| 2 | **let** | infinitive | you *not said here* | step |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **go** | infinitive | step *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **keep** | infinitive | you *not said here* | step |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** | present | step | thy life |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **hold** |  |  | instruction |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=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}

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הַחֲזֵ֣ק בַּמּוּסָ֣ר אַל־תֶּ֑רֶף נִ֝צְּרֶ֗הָ כִּי־הִ֥יא חַיֶּֽיךָ׃

[Proverbs 4:13: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.4.13/)

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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:103` 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: [Proverbs 4:12 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.102/)
- next →: [Proverbs 4:14 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.104/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 4:13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.4.13/)