---
title: Psalms 50:16 (JPS 1917) — But unto the wicked God saith: 'What hast thou to do to declare My s… · tree and pragmatics
description: But unto the wicked God saith: 'What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, and that thou hast taken My covenant in thy mouth? Who acts: wicked God, thou, My. Psalms 50:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Psalms 50:16 · JPS 1917

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But unto the wicked God saith: 'What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, and that thou hast taken My covenant in thy mouth?

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**Who acts:** wicked God, thou, My · **What happens:** say, do, declare, take, covenant · **To what, where:** statutes, covenant, mouth · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Psalms 50:16 · 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 (wicked God, thou, 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:833
# text = But unto the wicked God saith: 'What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, and that thou hast taken My covenant in thy mouth?
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	saith	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
9	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	13	obj	_	_
10	hast	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
11	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	13	nsubj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	declare	declare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
16	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	statutes	statute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	23	nsubj	_	_
22	hast	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
24	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	covenant	covenant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
29	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the wicked God |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** | present | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **declare** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | thou *not said here* | My statutes |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent statute=Attribute |
| 4 | **take** | present · perfect | thou | My covenant |  | thy mouth |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent covenant=Value in mouth=Location |
| 5 | **covenant** |  | My |  |  |  |  |  | nom covenant «communication 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 -->
וְלָ֤רָשָׁ֨ע ׀ אָ֘מַ֤ר אֱלֹהִ֗ים מַה־לְּ֭ךָ לְסַפֵּ֣ר חֻקָּ֑י וַתִּשָּׂ֖א בְרִיתִ֣י עֲלֵי־פִֽיךָ׃

[Psalms 50:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.50.16/)

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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:833` 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: [Psalms 50:15 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.832/)
- next →: [Psalms 50:17 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.834/)
- ↑ back to [Psalms 50:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.50.16/)