---
title: 1 Kings 3:9 (JPS 1917) — Give Thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge Thy peopl… · tree and pragmatics
description: Give Thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this Thy great people?' Who acts: you, I. 1 Kings 3:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 1 Kings 3:9 · JPS 1917

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Give Thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this Thy great people?'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, I · **What happens:** give, judge, discern, be · **To what, where:** understanding heart, servant, people, great people

<!-- .vabout -->
This is 1 Kings 3:9 · 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 (you, I), 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:1KI:117
# text = Give Thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this Thy great people?'
1	Give	give	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	Thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	iobj	_	_
4	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	understanding	understanding	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	judge	judge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	_
10	Thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	discern	discern	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
17	between	between	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	obl	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	_
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
22	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
24	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	advcl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	judge	judge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	31	det	_	_
29	Thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	31	nmod:poss	_	_
30	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	_
32	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
33	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=imp

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | imperative | you *not said here* | a understanding heart | Thy servant |  |  | therefore *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent servant=Recipient heart=Theme |
| 2 | **judge** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | Thy people |  |  |  |  | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Agent people=Value |
| 3 | **discern** | may | I |  |  |  |  | between good | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **judge** | to-infinitive |  | Thy great people |  |  |  |  | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Agent people=Value |

<!-- .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 -->
וְנָתַתָּ֨ לְעַבְדְּךָ֜ לֵ֤ב שֹׁמֵ֙עַ֙ לִשְׁפֹּ֣ט אֶֽת־עַמְּךָ֔ לְהָבִ֖ין בֵּֽין־ט֣וֹב לְרָ֑ע כִּ֣י מִ֤י יוּכַל֙ לִשְׁפֹּ֔ט אֶת־עַמְּךָ֥ הַכָּבֵ֖ד הַזֶּֽה׃

[1 Kings 3:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/1KI.3.9/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:1KI:117` 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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