---
title: 2 Kings 18:21 (JPS 1917) — Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even… · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. Who acts: thou, man, reed. 2 Kings 18:21 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# 2 Kings 18:21 · JPS 1917

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Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.

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**Who acts:** thou, man, reed · **What happens:** trust, bruise, lean, go, pierce, be · **To what, where:** hand, reed, Pharaoh king

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This is 2 Kings 18:21 · 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 (thou, man, reed), 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:573
# text = Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	_
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	6	nsubj	_	_
6	trustest	trust	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
12	bruised	bruise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	amod	_	_
13	reed	reed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	even	even	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
19	whereon	whereon	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	23	advmod	_	_
20	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	lean	lean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
28	into	into	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	pierce	pierce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	conj	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
36	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
37	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
38	Pharaoh	Pharaoh	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	flat	_	_
39	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	Egypt	Egypt	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
42	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	all	all	PRON	DT	PronType=Tot	39	nmod	_	_
44	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	45	nsubj	_	_
45	trust	trust	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	acl:relcl	_	_
46	on	on	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obl	_	_
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trust** | present | thou |  |  |  | now | upon the staff of this bruised reed; upon Egypt | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **bruise** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **lean** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | a man |  |  |  |  | whereon *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **go** | future | reed |  |  | man's hand |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into hand=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **pierce** | infinitive | reed *not said here* | reed |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 6 | **is a** | present |  | Pharaoh king |  |  |  | of Egypt; unto all | tree rules |
| 7 | **trust** | present |  |  |  |  |  | on man | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=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 -->
עַתָּ֡ה הִנֵּ֣ה בָטַ֣חְתָּ לְּךָ֡ עַל־מִשְׁעֶנֶת֩ הַקָּנֶ֨ה הָרָצ֤וּץ הַזֶּה֙ עַל־מִצְרַ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִסָּמֵ֥ךְ אִישׁ֙ עָלָ֔יו וּבָ֥א בְכַפּ֖וֹ וּנְקָבָ֑הּ כֵּ֚ן פַּרְעֹ֣ה מֶֽלֶךְ־מִצְרַ֔יִם לְכָֽל־הַבֹּטְחִ֖ים עָלָֽיו׃

[2 Kings 18:21: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2KI.18.21/)

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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:573` 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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