---
title: Ezekiel 18:2 (JPS 1917) — 'What mean ye, that ye use this proverb in the land of Israel, sayin… · tree and pragmatics
description: 'What mean ye, that ye use this proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? Who acts: ye, fathers. Ezekiel 18:2 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ezekiel 18:2 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'What mean ye, that ye use this proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** ye, fathers · **What happens:** mean, use, say, eat, set · **To what, where:** proverb, land, sour grapes, teeth, edge · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Ezekiel 18:2 · 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 (ye, fathers), 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:EZK:404
# text = 'What mean ye, that ye use this proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	_
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	obj	_	_
3	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	nsubj	_	_
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	8	nsubj	_	_
8	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
10	proverb	proverb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
19	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	fathers	father	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
21	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	ccomp	_	_
23	sour	sour	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	grapes	grape	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod:poss	_	_
29	's	's	PART	POS	_	28	case	_	_
30	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	conj	_	_
33	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
35	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | ye |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | present | ye | this proverb |  | the land of Israel |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent proverb=Patient |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | ye *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **eat** | present · perfect | the fathers | sour grapes |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grape=Patient |
| 5 | **set** | present · passive |  | the children's teeth |  | edge |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme on edge=Destination |

<!-- .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 -->
מַה־לָּכֶ֗ם אַתֶּם֙ מֹֽשְׁלִים֙ אֶת־הַמָּשָׁ֣ל הַזֶּ֔ה עַל־אַדְמַ֥ת יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר אָבוֹת֙ יֹ֣אכְלוּ בֹ֔סֶר וְשִׁנֵּ֥י הַבָּנִ֖ים תִּקְהֶֽינָה׃

[Ezekiel 18:2: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/EZK.18.2/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EZK:404` 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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