---
title: Proverbs 31:4 (JPS 1917) — It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine: no… · tree and pragmatics
description: It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine: nor for princes to say: 'Where is strong drink?' Who acts: womb, it. Proverbs 31:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Proverbs 31:4 · JPS 1917

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It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine: nor for princes to say: 'Where is strong drink?'

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**Who acts:** womb, it · **What happens:** not be, drink, say, be · **To what, where:** wine, strong drink · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Proverbs 31:4 · 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 (womb, it), 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:901
# text = It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine: nor for princes to say: 'Where is strong drink?'
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	kings	king	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	8	discourse	_	_
8	Lemuel	Lemuel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	vocative	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	kings	king	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	parataxis	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	csubj	_	_
17	wine	wine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
19	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	21	cc	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	princes	prince	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	csubj	_	_
24	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
25	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	_
26	Where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	drink	drink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	ccomp	_	_
30	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	_
31	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | womb |  |  |  |  | for kings; Lemuel *vocative* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | for kings nor princes | tree rules |
| 3 | **drink** | to-infinitive |  | wine |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wine=Patient |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is a** | present |  | strong drink |  |  |  |  | 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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אַ֤ל לַֽמְלָכִ֨ים ׀ לְֽמוֹאֵ֗ל אַ֣ל לַֽמְלָכִ֣ים שְׁתוֹ־יָ֑יִן וּ֝לְרוֹזְנִ֗ים אֵ֣י שֵׁכָֽר׃

[Proverbs 31:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.31.4/)

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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:901` 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 31:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.900/)
- next →: [Proverbs 31:5 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.902/)
- ↑ back to [Proverbs 31:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.31.4/)