---
title: Psalms 38:13 (JPS 1917) — They also that seek after my life lay snares for me; and they that s… · tree and pragmatics
description: They also that seek after my life lay snares for me; and they that seek my hurt speak crafty devices, and utter deceits all the day. Who acts: kinsmen, my. Psalms 38:13 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Psalms 38:13 · JPS 1917

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They also that seek after my life lay snares for me; and they that seek my hurt speak crafty devices, and utter deceits all the day.

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**Who acts:** kinsmen, my · **What happens:** seek, lay, speak, hurt · **To what, where:** snares, hurt, crafty devices · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Psalms 38:13 · 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 (kinsmen, my), 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:PSA:626
# text = They also that seek after my life lay snares for me; and they that seek my hurt speak crafty devices, and utter deceits all the day.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
2	also	also	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	seek	seek	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
5	after	after	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	lay	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	snares	snare	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	seek	seek	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	hurt	hurt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	speak	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
20	crafty	crafty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	devices	device	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	utter	utter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	deceits	deceit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	_
26	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	28	det:predet	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed act=assert, polarity=neg

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seek** | present |  |  |  |  | after my life |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **lay** | past | kinsmen *= kinsman* | snares |  |  |  | for me | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent snare=Result for i=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **seek** | present |  | my hurt |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hurt=Theme |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | kinsmen *= kinsman* | crafty devices and utter deceits |  |  | day |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **hurt** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom hurt «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
וַיְנַקְשׁ֤וּ ׀ מְבַקְשֵׁ֬י נַפְשִׁ֗י וְדֹרְשֵׁ֣י רָ֭עָתִי דִּבְּר֣וּ הַוּ֑וֹת וּ֝מִרְמ֗וֹת כָּל־הַיּ֥וֹם יֶהְגּֽוּ׃

[Psalms 38:13: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.38.13/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:PSA:626` 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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