---
title: Proverbs 20:2 (JPS 1917) — The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion: he that provoketh… · tree and pragmatics
description: The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion: he that provoketh him to anger forfeiteth his life. Who acts: terror, lion. Proverbs 20:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 20:2 · JPS 1917

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The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion: he that provoketh him to anger forfeiteth his life.

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**Who acts:** terror, lion · **What happens:** be, provoke, anger, forfeit · **To what, where:** lion, life

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This is Proverbs 20:2 · 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 (terror, lion), 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:560
# text = The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion: he that provoketh him to anger forfeiteth his life.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	terror	terror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	roaring	roaring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	provoketh	provoke	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	anger	anger	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
20	forfeiteth	forfeit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the terror of a king |  |  |  |  | as the roaring; of a lion | tree rules |
| 2 | **provoke** | present |  | lion |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **anger** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **forfeit** | present | lion | lion's life |  |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent life=Theme |

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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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נַ֣הַם כַּ֭כְּפִיר אֵ֣ימַת מֶ֑לֶךְ מִ֝תְעַבְּר֗וֹ חוֹטֵ֥א נַפְשֽׁוֹ׃

[Proverbs 20:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.20.2/)

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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:560` 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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