--- title: Isaiah 40:12 — Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted ou… · Hebrew, tree and pragmatics description: Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Isaiah 40:12 in Hebrew with its dependency tree, Targum Jonathan, JPS 1917 and the pragmat --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.40.12/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Nevi'im](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/) / [Isaiah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA/) / [chapter 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA/40/) / 40:12 # Isaiah 40:12 יְשַׁעְיָהוּ **What happens:** measure, mete out, comprehend, weigh · **To what, where:** waters, hollow, heaven, dust, measure, mountains This is Isaiah 40:12 from Mova's open Bible corpus, the Tanakh in three languages (Nevi'im — the Prophets). The page gives the verse in Hebrew as the Westminster Leningrad Codex has it, its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, built from MACULA Hebrew — and its pragmatics: what happens in the verse to waters, hollow, heaven, dust, measure, mountains, read clause by clause by Mova's frames. Beside it stand the Aramaic of Targum Jonathan and the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, each English sentence with a tree of its own. It is one of the 66 chapters of Isaiah on this site, all built by Mova itself from its own trees, with no large model in between. מִֽי־מָדַ֨ד בְּשָׁעֳל֜וֹ מַ֗יִם וְשָׁמַ֙יִם֙ בַּזֶּ֣רֶת תִּכֵּ֔ן וְכָ֥ל בַּשָּׁלִ֖שׁ עֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֑רֶץ וְשָׁקַ֤ל בַּפֶּ֙לֶס֙ הָרִ֔ים וּגְבָע֖וֹת בְּמֹאזְנָֽיִם׃ [Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.847/) ## The tree {#tree} Right to left, as the Hebrew is read; a prefix or suffix is a word of its own, and a line under the words joins those written as one. Under each word its part of speech and MACULA's English gloss. ```conllu rtl gloss # sent_id = wlc:ISA:777 # text = מִֽי־מָדַ֨ד בְּשָׁעֳל֜וֹ מַ֗יִם וְשָׁמַ֙יִם֙ בַּזֶּ֣רֶת תִּכֵּ֔ן וְכָ֥ל בַּשָּׁלִ֖שׁ עֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֑רֶץ וְשָׁקַ֤ל בַּפֶּ֙לֶס֙ הָרִ֔ים וּגְבָע֖וֹת בְּמֹאזְנָֽיִם׃ # verse = ISA.40.12 1 מִֽי־ מִי PRON _ PronType=Int 2 nsubj _ Gloss=who?|Ref=ISA_40:12!1|MId=o230400120011|Strong=4310|Type=interrogative|SpaceAfter=No 2 מָדַ֨ד מָדַד VERB _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Sing|Person=3 0 root _ Gloss=has.he.measured|Ref=ISA_40:12!2|MId=o230400120021|Strong=4058|Frame=A0:230400120011;A1:230400120041;|Type=qatal 3-5 בְּשָׁעֳל֜וֹ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 בְּ בְּ ADP _ _ 4 case _ Gloss=in|Ref=ISA_40:12!3|MId=o230400120031|Strong=0871a 4 שָׁעֳל שֹׁעַל NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 2 obl _ Gloss=the.hollow|Ref=ISA_40:12!3|MId=o230400120032|Strong=8168 5 ֜וֹ הוּא PRON _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nmod:poss _ Gloss=of.his.hand|Ref=ISA_40:12!3|MId=o230400120033|Strong=2050c|Type=pronominal 6 מַ֗יִם מַיִם NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Plur 2 obj _ Gloss=[the].waters|Ref=ISA_40:12!4|MId=o230400120041|Strong=4325 7-8 וְשָׁמַ֙יִם֙ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 7 וְ וְ CCONJ _ _ 12 cc _ Gloss=and.[the]|Ref=ISA_40:12!5|MId=o230400120051|Strong=2050b 8 שָׁמַ֙יִם֙ שָׁמַיִם NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Plur 12 obj _ Gloss=heavens|Ref=ISA_40:12!5|MId=o230400120052|Strong=8064 9-11 בַּזֶּ֣רֶת _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 9 בַּ בְּ ADP _ _ 11 case _ Gloss=with|Ref=ISA_40:12!6|MId=o230400120061|Strong=0871a 10 ה הַ DET _ PronType=Art 11 det _ Gloss=(the)|Ref=ISA_40:12!6|MId=o230400120061ה|Strong=1886a|Type=definite_article 11 זֶּ֣רֶת זֶרֶת NOUN _ Gender=Fem|Number=Sing 12 obl _ Gloss=span|Ref=ISA_40:12!6|MId=o230400120062|Strong=2239 12 תִּכֵּ֔ן תָּכַן VERB _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=PIEL|Number=Sing|Person=3 2 conj _ Gloss=has.he.marked.off?|Ref=ISA_40:12!7|MId=o230400120071|Strong=8505|Frame=A0:230400120011;A1:230400120052;|Type=qatal 13-14 וְכָ֥ל _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 13 וְ וְ CCONJ _ _ 14 cc _ Gloss=and|Ref=ISA_40:12!8|MId=o230400120081|Strong=2050b 14 כָ֥ל כּוּל VERB _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Sing|Person=3 2 conj _ Gloss=has.he.contained?|Ref=ISA_40:12!8|MId=o230400120082|Strong=3557|Frame=A0:230400120011;A1:230400120101;|Type=qatal 15-17 בַּשָּׁלִ֖שׁ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 15 בַּ בְּ ADP _ _ 17 case _ Gloss=in.(the)|Ref=ISA_40:12!9|MId=o230400120091|Strong=0871a 16 ה הַ DET _ PronType=Art 17 det _ Gloss=third|Ref=ISA_40:12!9|MId=o230400120091ה|Strong=1886a|Type=definite_article 17 שָּׁלִ֖שׁ שָׁלִישׁ NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 14 obl _ Gloss=of.a.measure|Ref=ISA_40:12!9|MId=o230400120092|Strong=7991a 18 עֲפַ֣ר עָפָר NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 14 obj _ Gloss=the.dust|Ref=ISA_40:12!10|MId=o230400120101|Strong=6083 19-20 הָאָ֑רֶץ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 19 הָ הַ DET _ PronType=Art 20 det _ Gloss=of|Ref=ISA_40:12!11|MId=o230400120111|Strong=1886a|Type=definite_article 20 אָ֑רֶץ אֶרֶץ NOUN _ Number=Sing 18 compound:smixut _ Gloss=the.earth|Ref=ISA_40:12!11|MId=o230400120112|Strong=0776 21-22 וְשָׁקַ֤ל _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 21 וְ וְ CCONJ _ _ 22 cc _ Gloss=and|Ref=ISA_40:12!12|MId=o230400120121|Strong=2050b 22 שָׁקַ֤ל שָׁקַל VERB _ Gender=Masc|HebBinyan=QAL|Number=Sing|Person=3 2 conj _ Gloss=has.he.weighed?|Ref=ISA_40:12!12|MId=o230400120122|Strong=8254|Frame=A0:230400120011;A1:230400120141;|Type=weqatal 23-25 בַּפֶּ֙לֶס֙ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 23 בַּ בְּ ADP _ _ 25 case _ Gloss=with|Ref=ISA_40:12!13|MId=o230400120131|Strong=0871a 24 ה הַ DET _ PronType=Art 25 det _ Gloss=(the)|Ref=ISA_40:12!13|MId=o230400120131ה|Strong=1886a|Type=definite_article 25 פֶּ֙לֶס֙ פֶּלֶס NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 22 obl _ Gloss=scale[s]|Ref=ISA_40:12!13|MId=o230400120132|Strong=6425 26 הָרִ֔ים הַר NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Plur 22 obj _ Gloss=mountains|Ref=ISA_40:12!14|MId=o230400120141|Strong=2022 27-28 וּגְבָע֖וֹת _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 27 וּ וְ CCONJ _ _ 28 cc _ Gloss=and|Ref=ISA_40:12!15|MId=o230400120151|Strong=2050b 28 גְבָע֖וֹת גִּבְעָה NOUN _ Gender=Fem|Number=Plur 22 conj _ Gloss=hills|Ref=ISA_40:12!15|MId=o230400120152|Strong=1389 29-30 בְּמֹאזְנָֽיִם _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 29 בְּ בְּ ADP _ _ 30 case _ Gloss=with|Ref=ISA_40:12!16|MId=o230400120161|Strong=0871a 30 מֹאזְנָֽיִם מֹאזְנַיִם NOUN _ Gender=Masc|Number=Dual 28 obl _ Gloss=balances|Ref=ISA_40:12!16|MId=o230400120162|Strong=3976 31 ׃ ׃ PUNCT _ _ 30 punct _ Ref=ISA_40:12!16 ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: wh-question - act: ask - voice: character - speech: inside a quote begun earlier - negation: no | verb | form · stem | who (A0) | what, whom (A1) | to whom, further (A2) | who makes it happen (AA) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | מָדַד *has he measured* | qatal · qal | מִֽי־ *who?* | מַיִם *\[the\] waters* | | | | תִּכֵּן *has he marked off?* | qatal · piel | מִֽי־ *who?* | שָׁמַיִם *heavens* | | | | כָל *has he contained?* | qatal · qal | מִֽי־ *who?* | עֲפַר *the dust* | | | | שָׁקַל *has he weighed?* | weqatal · qal | מִֽי־ *who?* | הָרִים *mountains* | | | MACULA's semantic frames: for each verb the head word of each participant. A0 is the one who acts, A1 what the act is done to or is about, A2 a further participant; AA, with a causative verb, the one who makes it happen. ## Targum Jonathan {#onkelos} מַן אֲמַר אִלֵין קַיָם אֲמַר וַעֲבֵד דְכָל מֵי עַלְמָא חֲשִׁיבִין קֳדָמוֹהִי כְּטִפָּא בִשְׁעוֹלָא וּמִשְׁחַת שְׁמַיָא כְּאִלוּ בְּזֵירְתָא מְתַקְנִין וְעַפְרָא דְאַרְעָא כְּאִלוּ בִּמְכִילָא אִתְכַּל וְטוּרַיָא כְּאִלוּ מַתְקַל תַּקִילִין וְרָמָתָא כַּד בְּמוֹזְנַיָא: The Aramaic translation read beside the Hebrew. Text only: Mova has no Aramaic parser yet. ## English, JPS 1917 {#english} Each sentence on its own page, with its tree and pragmatics. A sentence that runs on into the next verse is listed under the verse it begins in. 1. [Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.847/) **Hebrew text:** Westminster Leningrad Codex, public domain. **Tree, glosses and frames:** MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets, available at [github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew](https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew/), [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/); converted to Universal Dependencies by Mova (words in text order, a prefix its own word). **Speech act:** Mova's rules on the MACULA words (`macula prag`). **Targum:** Onkelos (Torat Emet), Jonathan and the Writings (Mikraot Gedolot), from Sefaria, public domain. **English:** JPS 1917, public domain; trees and speech acts by Mova's cycle, frames by Mova's reader (Elamur Cosmic License). Hebrew sentence `wlc:ISA:777`. - ← previous: [Isaiah 40:11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.40.11/) - next →: [Isaiah 40:13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.40.13/) - ↑ back to [Isaiah 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA/40/)