---
title: Proverbs 20:23 (JPS 1917) — Divers weights are an abomination to the LORD; and a false balance i… · tree and pragmatics
description: Divers weights are an abomination to the LORD; and a false balance is not good. Who acts: Divers weights, false balance. Proverbs 20:23 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 20:23 · JPS 1917

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Divers weights are an abomination to the LORD; and a false balance is not good.

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**Who acts:** Divers weights, false balance · **What happens:** be, not be · **To what, where:** abomination

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This is Proverbs 20:23 · 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 (Divers weights, false balance), 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:581
# text = Divers weights are an abomination to the LORD; and a false balance is not good.
1	Divers	divers	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	weights	weight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	abomination	abomination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	false	false	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	balance	balance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- 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 | **is a** | present | Divers weights | a abomination |  |  |  | to the LORD | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present | a false balance |  |  |  |  | good *property* | 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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תּוֹעֲבַ֣ת יְ֭הוָה אֶ֣בֶן וָאָ֑בֶן וּמֹאזְנֵ֖י מִרְמָ֣ה לֹא־טֽוֹב׃

[Proverbs 20:23: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.20.23/)

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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:581` 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 20:22 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.580/)
- next →: [Proverbs 20:24 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.582/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 20:23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.20.23/)