---
title: Proverbs 26:20 (JPS 1917) — Where no wood is, the fire goeth out; and where there is no whispere… · tree and pragmatics
description: Where no wood is, the fire goeth out; and where there is no whisperer, contention ceaseth. Who acts: fire, whisperer, contention. Proverbs 26:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 26:20 · JPS 1917

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Where no wood is, the fire goeth out; and where there is no whisperer, contention ceaseth.

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**Who acts:** fire, whisperer, contention · **What happens:** be, go out, cease · **To what, where:** wood

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This is Proverbs 26:20 · 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 (fire, whisperer, contention), 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:769
# text = Where no wood is, the fire goeth out; and where there is no whisperer, contention ceaseth.
1	Where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	3	advmod	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	advcl	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	goeth	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	out	out	ADV	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
12	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	14	advmod	_	_
13	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	14	expl	_	_
14	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
15	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
16	whisperer	whisperer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	contention	contention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	ceaseth	cease	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	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 a** | present | the fire *not said here* | no wood |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **go out** | present | the fire |  |  |  |  |  | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **be** | present | no whisperer |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **cease** | present | contention |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

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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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בְּאֶ֣פֶס עֵ֭צִים תִּכְבֶּה־אֵ֑שׁ וּבְאֵ֥ין נִ֝רְגָּ֗ן יִשְׁתֹּ֥ק מָדֽוֹן׃

[Proverbs 26:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.26.20/)

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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:769` 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 26:19 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.768/)
- next →: [Proverbs 26:21 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.770/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 26:20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.26.20/)