---
title: Proverbs 4:19 (JPS 1917) — The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stu… · tree and pragmatics
description: The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble. Who acts: way, paths. Proverbs 4:19 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 4:19 · JPS 1917

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The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.

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**Who acts:** way, paths · **What happens:** be, not know, stumble · **To what, where:** darkness · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Proverbs 4:19 · 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 (way, paths), 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:109
# text = The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	11	obl	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	stumble	stumble	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the way of the wicked |  |  |  |  | as darkness | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **know** | present | paths *= path* |  |  | darkness |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **stumble** | present | paths *= path* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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דֶּ֣רֶךְ רְ֭שָׁעִים כָּֽאֲפֵלָ֑ה לֹ֥א יָ֝דְע֗וּ בַּמֶּ֥ה יִכָּשֵֽׁלוּ׃פ

[Proverbs 4:19: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.4.19/)

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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:109` 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 4:18 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.108/)
- next →: [Proverbs 4:20 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.110/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 4:19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.4.19/)