---
title: Isaiah 40:12 (JPS 1917) — Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted ou… · tree and pragmatics
description: Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Isaiah 40:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Isaiah 40:12 · JPS 1917

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Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

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**What happens:** measure, mete out, comprehend, weigh · **To what, where:** waters, hollow, heaven, dust, measure, mountains

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This is Isaiah 40:12 · 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: 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:847
# text = Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
1	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	nsubj	_	_
2	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	measured	measure	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	hollow	hollow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	meted	mete	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
15	out	out	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	span	span	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	comprehended	comprehend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	measure	measure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	weighed	weigh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	scales	scale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	_
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	conj	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	balance	balance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
45	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: wh-question
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **measure** | present · perfect |  | the waters |  | the hollow of God's hand |  |  | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme water=Value |
| 2 | **mete out** | participle |  | heaven |  |  |  | with the span | tree rules |
| 3 | **comprehend** | past |  | the dust of the earth |  | a measure |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer dust=Stimulus |
| 4 | **weigh** | past |  | the mountains and the hills |  | scales |  | in a balance | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme mountain=Value |

<!-- .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 -->
מִֽי־מָדַ֨ד בְּשָׁעֳל֜וֹ מַ֗יִם וְשָׁמַ֙יִם֙ בַּזֶּ֣רֶת תִּכֵּ֔ן וְכָ֥ל בַּשָּׁלִ֖שׁ עֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֑רֶץ וְשָׁקַ֤ל בַּפֶּ֙לֶס֙ הָרִ֔ים וּגְבָע֖וֹת בְּמֹאזְנָֽיִם׃

[Isaiah 40:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.40.12/)

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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:847` 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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