---
title: Isaiah 44:12 (JPS 1917) — The smith maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it… · tree and pragmatics
description: The smith maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm; yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint. Who acts: smith, strength. Isaiah 44:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Isaiah 44:12 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The smith maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm; yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.

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**Who acts:** smith, strength · **What happens:** make, work, fashion, be, fail, drink · **To what, where:** axe, water

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This is Isaiah 44:12 · 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: who acts (smith, strength), 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:984
# text = The smith maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm; yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	smith	smith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	maketh	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	worketh	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	coals	coal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	fashioneth	fashion	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	hammers	hammer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	worketh	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
27	yea	yea	INTJ	UH	_	31	discourse	_	_
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
31	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
36	faileth	fail	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
37	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	drinketh	drink	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
40	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	41	det	_	_
41	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
44	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
45	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	conj	_	_
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | present | the smith | a axe |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset axe=Product |
| 2 | **work** | present | the smith *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in the coals | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in coal=Theme |
| 3 | **fashion** | present | the smith *not said here* | axe |  |  |  | with hammers | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Product |
| 4 | **work** | present | the smith *not said here* | axe |  |  |  | with smith's strong arm | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent it=Material |
| 5 | **is** | present | smith |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **fail** | present | smith's strength |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **drink** | present | strength | no water |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Patient |
| 8 | **is** | present | strength *not said here* |  |  |  |  | faint *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
חָרַ֤שׁ בַּרְזֶל֙ מַֽעֲצָ֔ד וּפָעַל֙ בַּפֶּחָ֔ם וּבַמַּקָּב֖וֹת יִצְּרֵ֑הוּ וַיִּפְעָלֵ֙הוּ֙ בִּזְר֣וֹעַ כֹּח֔וֹ גַּם־רָעֵב֙ וְאֵ֣ין כֹּ֔חַ לֹא־שָׁ֥תָה מַ֖יִם וַיִּיעָֽף׃

[Isaiah 44:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.44.12/)

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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:984` 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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