---
title: Proverbs 10:20 (JPS 1917) — The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver; the heart of the wi… · tree and pragmatics
description: The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver; the heart of the wicked is little worth. Who acts: tongue, heart. Proverbs 10:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 10:20 · JPS 1917

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The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver; the heart of the wicked is little worth.

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**Who acts:** tongue, heart · **What happens:** be

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This is Proverbs 10:20 · 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 (tongue, heart), 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:278
# text = The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver; the heart of the wicked is little worth.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	righteous	righteous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nmod	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	choice	choice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	nmod	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	little	little	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	18	advmod	_	_
18	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	parataxis	_	_
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the tongue of the righteous |  |  |  |  | as choice silver | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | the heart of the wicked |  |  |  |  | little, worth *property* | tree rules |

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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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כֶּ֣סֶף נִ֭בְחָר לְשׁ֣וֹן צַדִּ֑יק לֵ֖ב רְשָׁעִ֣ים כִּמְעָֽט׃

[Proverbs 10:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.10.20/)

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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:278` 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 10:19 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.277/)
- next →: [Proverbs 10:21 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.279/)
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