---
title: 2 Kings 18:20 (JPS 1917) — Sayest thou that a mere word of the lips is counsel and strength for… · tree and pragmatics
description: Sayest thou that a mere word of the lips is counsel and strength for the war? Who acts: thou, mere word. 2 Kings 18:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Kings 18:20 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

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Sayest thou that a mere word of the lips is counsel and strength for the war?

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**Who acts:** thou, mere word · **What happens:** say, be, word · **To what, where:** counsel, lips · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 2 Kings 18:20 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 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 (thou, mere word), 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:2KI:571
# text = Sayest thou that a mere word of the lips is counsel and strength for the war?
1	Sayest	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	1	nsubj	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	mere	mere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	counsel	counsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	ccomp	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=q, indirect=0

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | a mere word of the lips | counsel and strength |  |  |  | for the war | tree rules |
| 3 | **word** |  |  | the lips |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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אָמַ֙רְתָּ֙ אַךְ־דְּבַר־שְׂפָתַ֔יִם עֵצָ֥ה וּגְבוּרָ֖ה לַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה עַתָּה֙ עַל־מִ֣י בָטַ֔חְתָּ כִּ֥י מָרַ֖דְתָּ בִּֽי׃

[2 Kings 18:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2KI.18.20/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. **Sayest thou that a mere word of the lips is counsel and strength for the war?**
2. [Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/2KI.572/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:2KI:571` 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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