---
title: Isaiah 8:20 (JPS 1917) — for instruction and for testimony?' — Surely they will speak accordi… · tree and pragmatics
description: for instruction and for testimony?' — Surely they will speak according to this word, wherein there is no light. — Who acts: wonders, light. Isaiah 8:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Isaiah 8:20 · JPS 1917

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for instruction and for testimony?' — Surely they will speak according to this word, wherein there is no light. —

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**Who acts:** wonders, light · **What happens:** speak, accord, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Isaiah 8:20 · 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, light), 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:182
# text = for instruction and for testimony?' — Surely they will speak according to this word, wherein there is no light. —
1	for	for	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	instruction	instruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	testimony	testimony	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
7	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
8	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
9	Surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
13	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	case	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	fixed	_	_
15	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	det	_	_
16	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	wherein	wherein	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
19	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	20	expl	_	_
20	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	22	det	_	_
22	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
24	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | future | wonders *= wonder* |  |  |  |  | for instruction and testimony; accord this word; surely *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **be** | present | no light |  |  | there |  | wherein *property* | vn exist-47.1 «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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לְתוֹרָ֖ה וְלִתְעוּדָ֑ה אִם־לֹ֤א יֹֽאמְרוּ֙ כַּדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֵֽין־ל֖וֹ שָֽׁחַר׃

[Isaiah 8:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.8.20/)

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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:182` 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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