---
title: Proverbs 10:23 (JPS 1917) — It is as sport to a fool to do wickedness, and so is wisdom to a man… · tree and pragmatics
description: It is as sport to a fool to do wickedness, and so is wisdom to a man of discernment. Who acts: It. Proverbs 10:23 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 10:23 · JPS 1917

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It is as sport to a fool to do wickedness, and so is wisdom to a man of discernment.

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**Who acts:** It · **What happens:** be, do · **To what, where:** wickedness, wisdom

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This is Proverbs 10:23 · 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 (It), 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:281
# text = It is as sport to a fool to do wickedness, and so is wisdom to a man of discernment.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	as	as	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	sport	sport	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	fool	fool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	csubj	_	_
10	wickedness	wickedness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	discernment	discernment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed polarity=none

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | as sport and wisdom; to a fool | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive |  | wickedness |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wickedness=Eventuality |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | wisdom |  |  |  | to a man of discernment | 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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כִּשְׂח֣וֹק לִ֭כְסִיל עֲשׂ֣וֹת זִמָּ֑ה וְ֝חָכְמָ֗ה לְאִ֣ישׁ תְּבוּנָֽה׃

[Proverbs 10:23: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.10.23/)

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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:281` 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 10:22 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.280/)
- next →: [Proverbs 10:24 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.282/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 10:23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.10.23/)