---
title: Isaiah 21:8 (JPS 1917) — And he cried as a lion: 'Upon the watch-tower, O Lord, I stand conti… · tree and pragmatics
description: And he cried as a lion: 'Upon the watch-tower, O Lord, I stand continually in the daytime, and I am set in my ward all the nights.' Who acts: Lord, I. Isaiah 21:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Isaiah 21:8 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And he cried as a lion: 'Upon the watch-tower, O Lord, I stand continually in the daytime, and I am set in my ward all the nights.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Lord, I · **What happens:** cry, stand, set · **To what, where:** daytime, I, ward · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Isaiah 21:8 · 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 (Lord, I), 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:426
# text = And he cried as a lion: 'Upon the watch-tower, O Lord, I stand continually in the daytime, and I am set in my ward all the nights.'
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	_
9	Upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	watch	watch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	_
13	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	16	discourse	_	_
16	Lord	Lord	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	vocative	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	stand	stand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
20	continually	continually	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	daytime	daytime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	ward	ward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	34	det:predet	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl:unmarked	_	_
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
36	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: pos
- teacher: changed voice=narrator

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | Lord |  |  |  |  | as a lion | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **stand** | present | I |  |  | the daytime |  | upon the watch tower; Lord *vocative*; continually *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon tower=Location |
| 3 | **set** | present · passive |  | I |  | my ward | night |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in ward=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 -->
וַיִּקְרָ֖א אַרְיֵ֑ה עַל־מִצְפֶּ֣ה ׀ אֲדֹנָ֗י אָנֹכִ֞י עֹמֵ֤ד תָּמִיד֙ יוֹמָ֔ם וְעַל־מִ֨שְׁמַרְתִּ֔י אָנֹכִ֥י נִצָּ֖ב כָּל־הַלֵּילֽוֹת׃

[Isaiah 21:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.21.8/)

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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:426` 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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