---
title: Proverbs 24:12 (JPS 1917) — If thou sayest: 'Behold, we knew not this', doth not He that weighet… · tree and pragmatics
description: If thou sayest: 'Behold, we knew not this', doth not He that weigheth the hearts consider it? Who acts: thou, we, safety. Proverbs 24:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 24:12 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 3

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If thou sayest: 'Behold, we knew not this', doth not He that weigheth the hearts consider it?

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**Who acts:** thou, we, safety · **What happens:** say, not know, weigh, not consider · **To what, where:** this, hearts, heart · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Proverbs 24:12 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 3 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 (thou, we, safety), 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:696
# text = If thou sayest: 'Behold, we knew not this', doth not He that weigheth the hearts consider it?
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sayest	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
6	Behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	9	discourse	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
11	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	obj	_	_
12	',	',	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
13	doth	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
15	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
17	weigheth	weigh	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	hearts	heart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	consider	consider	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed form=q, act=ask, indirect=1, polarity=none

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **know** | past | we | this |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 3 | **weigh** | present |  | the hearts |  |  |  |  | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme heart=Value |
| 4 | **not** **consider** | present · do-support | safety | heart |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent it=Attribute |

<!-- .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}

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כִּֽי־תֹאמַ֗ר הֵן֮ לֹא־יָדַ֪עְנ֫וּ זֶ֥ה הֲ‍ֽלֹא־תֹ֘כֵ֤ן לִבּ֨וֹת ׀ הֽוּא־יָבִ֗ין וְנֹצֵ֣ר נַ֭פְשְׁךָ ה֣וּא יֵדָ֑ע וְהֵשִׁ֖יב לְאָדָ֣ם כְּפָעֳלֽוֹ׃

[Proverbs 24:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.24.12/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. **If thou sayest: 'Behold, we knew not this', doth not He that weigheth the hearts consider it?**
2. [And He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.697/)
3. [And shall not He render to every man according to his works?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.698/)

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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:696` 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 24:11 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.695/)
- next →: [Proverbs 24:12 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.697/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 24:12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.24.12/)