---
title: Proverbs 4:16 (JPS 1917) — For they sleep not, except they have done evil; and their sleep is t… · tree and pragmatics
description: For they sleep not, except they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. Who acts: paths, some. Proverbs 4:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 4:16 · JPS 1917

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For they sleep not, except they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

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**Who acts:** paths, some · **What happens:** not sleep, do, take away, cause, fall, sleep · **To what, where:** evil, sleep, some

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This is Proverbs 4:16 · 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 (paths, some), 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:106
# text = For they sleep not, except they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sleep	sleep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	except	except	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
10	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
17	away	away	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	cause	cause	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
22	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	obj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed voice=character

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **sleep** | present | paths *= path* |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **do** | present · perfect | paths *= path* | evil |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent evil=Eventuality |
| 3 | **take away** | present · passive |  | paths's sleep |  |  |  | away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **cause** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | paths *= path* | some |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fall** | to-infinitive | some *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **sleep** |  | paths *= path* |  |  |  |  |  | nom sleep «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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כִּ֤י לֹ֣א יִֽ֭שְׁנוּ אִם־לֹ֣א יָרֵ֑עוּ וְֽנִגְזְלָ֥ה שְׁ֝נָתָ֗ם אִם־לֹ֥א יַכְשִֽׁילוּ׃

[Proverbs 4:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.4.16/)

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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:106` 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 4:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.105/)
- next →: [Proverbs 4:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.107/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 4:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.4.16/)