---
title: Isaiah 36:5 (JPS 1917) — I said: It is but vain words; for counsel and strength are for the w… · tree and pragmatics
description: I said: It is but vain words; for counsel and strength are for the war. Who acts: I, confidence, counsel. Isaiah 36:5 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Isaiah 36:5 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

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I said: It is but vain words; for counsel and strength are for the war.

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**Who acts:** I, confidence, counsel · **What happens:** say, be · **To what, where:** vain words · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Isaiah 36:5 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 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 (I, confidence, counsel), 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:740
# text = I said: It is but vain words; for counsel and strength are for the war.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
4	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	but	but	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	ccomp	_	_
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
10	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
11	counsel	counsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
14	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed act=assert

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | confidence | vain words |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | counsel and strength |  |  |  |  | for the war | tree rules |

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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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אָמַ֙רְתִּי֙ אַךְ־דְּבַר־שְׂפָתַ֔יִם עֵצָ֥ה וּגְבוּרָ֖ה לַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה עַתָּה֙ עַל־מִ֣י בָטַ֔חְתָּ כִּ֥י מָרַ֖דְתָּ בִּֽי׃

[Isaiah 36:5: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.36.5/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. **I said: It is but vain words; for counsel and strength are for the war.**
2. [Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.741/)

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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:740` 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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