---
title: Isaiah 58:5 (JPS 1917) — Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and… · tree and pragmatics
description: Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Isaiah 58:5 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Isaiah 58:5 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 3

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Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?

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**What happens:** bow down, spread · **To what, where:** fast, sackcloth

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This is Isaiah 58:5 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 of 3 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: 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:ISA:1263
# text = Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	bow	bow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bulrush	bulrush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	spread	spread	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
15	sackcloth	sackcloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	ashes	ash	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	_
18	under	under	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	_
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: yes/no question
- act: express
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed indirect=1, act=express

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bow down** | present |  | fast |  |  |  | as a bulrush | vn curtsey-40.3.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Topic |
| 2 | **spread** | to-infinitive |  | sackcloth and ashes |  |  |  | under man | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent sackcloth=Theme under he=Destination |

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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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הֲכָזֶ֗ה יִֽהְיֶה֙ צ֣וֹם אֶבְחָרֵ֔הוּ י֛וֹם עַנּ֥וֹת אָדָ֖ם נַפְשׁ֑וֹ הֲלָכֹ֨ף כְּאַגְמֹ֜ן רֹאשׁ֗וֹ וְשַׂ֤ק וָאֵ֙פֶר֙ יַצִּ֔יעַ הֲלָזֶה֙ תִּקְרָא־צ֔וֹם וְי֥וֹם רָצ֖וֹן לַיהוָֽה׃

[Isaiah 58:5: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.58.5/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. [Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.1262/)
2. **Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?**
3. [Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.1264/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ISA:1263` 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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