---
title: Proverbs 11:17 (JPS 1917) — The merciful man doeth good to his own soul; but he that is cruel tr… · tree and pragmatics
description: The merciful man doeth good to his own soul; but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. Who acts: merciful man, man. Proverbs 11:17 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 11:17 · JPS 1917

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The merciful man doeth good to his own soul; but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.

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**Who acts:** merciful man, man · **What happens:** do, be, trouble · **To what, where:** good, own flesh

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This is Proverbs 11:17 · 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 (merciful man, man), 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:307
# text = The merciful man doeth good to his own soul; but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	merciful	merciful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	doeth	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	good	good	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	acl:relcl	_	_
16	troubleth	trouble	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: narrate
- 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 | **do** | present | the merciful man | good |  |  |  | to man's own soul | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | cruel *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **trouble** | present | man | man's own flesh |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus flesh=Experiencer |

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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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גֹּמֵ֣ל נַ֭פְשׁוֹ אִ֣ישׁ חָ֑סֶד וְעֹכֵ֥ר שְׁ֝אֵר֗וֹ אַכְזָרִֽי׃

[Proverbs 11:17: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.11.17/)

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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:307` 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 11:16 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.306/)
- next →: [Proverbs 11:18 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.308/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 11:17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.11.17/)