---
title: Proverbs 17:4 (JPS 1917) — A evil-doer giveth heed to wicked lips; and a liar giveth ear to a m… · tree and pragmatics
description: A evil-doer giveth heed to wicked lips; and a liar giveth ear to a mischievous tongue. Who acts: evil doer, liar. Proverbs 17:4 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.480/)

<!-- 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 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO/17/) / [17:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.17.4/) / JPS 1

# Proverbs 17:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A evil-doer giveth heed to wicked lips; and a liar giveth ear to a mischievous tongue.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** evil doer, liar · **What happens:** give · **To what, where:** heed, wicked lips, ear, mischievous tongue

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Proverbs 17:4 · 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 (evil doer, liar), 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:480
# text = A evil-doer giveth heed to wicked lips; and a liar giveth ear to a mischievous tongue.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	evil	evil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	_
4	doer	doer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	giveth	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	heed	heed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	liar	liar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	giveth	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
15	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	mischievous	mischievous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	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 | **give** | present | a evil doer | heed | wicked lips |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent heed=Theme to lip=Recipient |
| 2 | **give** | present | a liar | ear | a mischievous tongue |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent ear=Theme to tongue=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
מֵ֭רַע מַקְשִׁ֣יב עַל־שְׂפַת־אָ֑וֶן שֶׁ֥קֶר מֵ֝זִין עַל־לְשׁ֥וֹן הַוֺּֽת׃

[Proverbs 17:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.17.4/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:PRO:480` 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 17:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.479/)
- next →: [Proverbs 17:5 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.481/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 17:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.17.4/)