---
title: 2 Kings 20:10 (JPS 1917) — And Hezekiah answered: 'It is a light thing for the shadow to declin… · tree and pragmatics
description: And Hezekiah answered: 'It is a light thing for the shadow to decline ten degrees; nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.' Who acts: Hezekiah, shadow. 2 Kings 20:10 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# 2 Kings 20:10 · JPS 1917

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And Hezekiah answered: 'It is a light thing for the shadow to decline ten degrees; nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.'

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**Who acts:** Hezekiah, shadow · **What happens:** answer, be, decline, let, return · **To what, where:** light thing, ten degrees, shadow · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is 2 Kings 20:10 · 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 (Hezekiah, shadow), 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:640
# text = And Hezekiah answered: 'It is a light thing for the shadow to decline ten degrees; nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Hezekiah	Hezekiah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
6	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	expl	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	light	light	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
11	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	decline	decline	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	csubj	_	_
16	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	degrees	degree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl:unmarked	_	_
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
19	nay	nay	INTJ	UH	_	22	discourse	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	shadow	shadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
26	backward	backward	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	degrees	degree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl:unmarked	_	_
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
30	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Hezekiah |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  | a light thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **decline** | to-infinitive | the shadow | ten degrees |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **let** | infinitive |  | the shadow |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **return** | infinitive | the shadow *not said here* | ten degrees |  |  |  | backward *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ יְחִזְקִיָּ֔הוּ נָקֵ֣ל לַצֵּ֔ל לִנְט֖וֹת עֶ֣שֶׂר מַעֲל֑וֹת לֹ֣א כִ֔י יָשׁ֥וּב הַצֵּ֛ל אֲחֹרַנִּ֖ית עֶ֥שֶׂר מַעֲלֽוֹת׃

[2 Kings 20:10: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2KI.20.10/)

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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:640` 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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