---
title: Proverbs 3:18 (JPS 1917) — She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is e… · tree and pragmatics
description: She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one that holdest her fast. Who acts: truth, tree, one. Proverbs 3:18 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 3:18 · JPS 1917

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She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one that holdest her fast.

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**Who acts:** truth, tree, one · **What happens:** be, lay hold, hold · **To what, where:** tree, ways, one, truth

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This is Proverbs 3:18 · 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 (truth, tree, one), 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:73
# text = She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one that holdest her fast.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
11	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nmod	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
19	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
21	holdest	hold	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
22	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	21	advmod	_	_
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: pos
- 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 | truth | a tree | ways *= way* |  |  | of life | tree rules |
| 2 | **lay hold** | present | a tree |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **be** |  | every one |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | present |  | every one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **hold** | present | every one | truth |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=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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עֵץ־חַיִּ֣ים הִ֭יא לַמַּחֲזִיקִ֣ים בָּ֑הּ וְֽתֹמְכֶ֥יהָ מְאֻשָּֽׁר׃פ

[Proverbs 3:18: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.3.18/)

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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:73` 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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