---
title: Proverbs 12:9 (JPS 1917) — Better is he that is lightly esteemed, and hath a servant, than he t… · tree and pragmatics
description: Better is he that is lightly esteemed, and hath a servant, than he that playeth the man of rank, and lacketh bread. Who acts: man. Proverbs 12:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.330/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Ketuvim](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/) / [Proverbs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO/) / [chapter 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO/12/) / [12:9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.12.9/) / JPS 1

# Proverbs 12:9 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Better is he that is lightly esteemed, and hath a servant, than he that playeth the man of rank, and lacketh bread.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man · **What happens:** be, esteem, have, play, lack · **To what, where:** servant, man, bread

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Proverbs 12:9 · 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 (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:330
# text = Better is he that is lightly esteemed, and hath a servant, than he that playeth the man of rank, and lacketh bread.
1	Better	better	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nsubj	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
6	lightly	lightly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	esteemed	esteem	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	hath	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	obl	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
17	playeth	play	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	rank	rank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	lacketh	lack	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
25	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- 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 | man |  |  |  |  | than wicked; better *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **esteem** | present · passive |  |  |  |  |  | lightly *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **have** | present |  | a servant |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent servant=Patient |
| 4 | **play** | present |  | the man of rank |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Theme |
| 5 | **lack** | present |  | bread |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
ט֣וֹב נִ֭קְלֶה וְעֶ֣בֶד ל֑וֹ מִ֝מְּתַכַּבֵּ֗ד וַחֲסַר־לָֽחֶם׃

[Proverbs 12:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.12.9/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:PRO:330` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Proverbs 12:8 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.329/)
- next →: [Proverbs 12:10 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.331/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 12:9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.12.9/)