--- title: Isaiah 8:19 (JPS 1917) — And when they shall say unto you: 'Seek unto the ghosts and the fami… · tree and pragmatics description: And when they shall say unto you: 'Seek unto the ghosts and the familiar spirits, that chirp and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living unto the dead Who acts: wonders, you, familiar spirits, that. Isaiah 8:19 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragma --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.181/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Nevi'im](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/) / [Isaiah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA/) / [chapter 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA/8/) / [8:19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.8.19/) / JPS 1 # Isaiah 8:19 · JPS 1917 And when they shall say unto you: 'Seek unto the ghosts and the familiar spirits, that chirp and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living unto the dead **Who acts:** wonders, you, familiar spirits, that, people · **What happens:** say, seek, chirp, mutter, not seek · **To what, where:** behalf · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is Isaiah 8:19 · 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 (wonders, you, familiar spirits, that), 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:181 # text = And when they shall say unto you: 'Seek unto the ghosts and the familiar spirits, that chirp and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living unto the dead 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 2 when when SCONJ WRB _ 5 mark _ _ 3 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 4 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 advcl _ _ 6 unto unto ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 5 obl _ _ 8 : : PUNCT : _ 10 punct _ _ 9 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 10 punct _ _ 10 Seek seek VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 unto unto ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 ghosts ghost NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obl _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 16 familiar familiar ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 17 spirits spirit NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 conj _ _ 18 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 19 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 20 nsubj _ _ 20 chirp chirp VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 acl:relcl _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 22 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 23 nsubj _ _ 23 mutter mutter VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 24 ; ; PUNCT : _ 29 punct _ _ 25 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 26 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 29 advmod _ _ 27 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 nsubj _ _ 29 seek seek VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 parataxis _ _ 30 unto unto ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 32 nmod:poss _ _ 32 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 29 obl _ _ 33 ? ? PUNCT . _ 29 punct _ _ 34 on on ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 behalf behalf NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ _ 36 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 living living NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nmod _ _ 39 unto unto ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} - form: command - act: request - voice: character - polarity: neg - teacher: changed form=imp, act=request | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | shall | wonders *= wonder* | | | | | unto you | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **seek** | imperative | you *not said here* | | | | | unto the ghosts and the familiar spirits | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **chirp** | present | the familiar spirits | | | | | | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **mutter** *speech: assert* | present | that | | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **not** **seek** | should | a people | | | behalf of the living | | unto wonders's God | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent on behalf=Location | 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} וְכִֽי־יֹאמְר֣וּ אֲלֵיכֶ֗ם דִּרְשׁ֤וּ אֶל־הָאֹבוֹת֙ וְאֶל־הַיִּדְּעֹנִ֔ים הַֽמְצַפְצְפִ֖ים וְהַמַּהְגִּ֑ים הֲלוֹא־עַם֙ אֶל־אֱלֹהָ֣יו יִדְרֹ֔שׁ בְּעַ֥ד הַחַיִּ֖ים אֶל־הַמֵּתִֽים׃ [Isaiah 8:19: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.8.19/) **Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ISA:181` 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. - ← previous: [Isaiah 8:18 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.180/) - next →: [Isaiah 8:20 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.182/) - ↑ back to [Isaiah 8:19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.8.19/)