---
title: Jeremiah 38:4 (JPS 1917) — Then the princes said unto the king: 'Let this man, we pray thee, be… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the princes said unto the king: 'Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; forasmuch as he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them; for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.' Wh
---

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# Jeremiah 38:4 · JPS 1917

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Then the princes said unto the king: 'Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; forasmuch as he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them; for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.'

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**Who acts:** princes, we, man, king, men · **What happens:** say, let, pray, put, weaken, remain · **To what, where:** man, thee, hands, city, such words, welfare · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Jeremiah 38:4 · 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 (princes, we, man, king), 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:JER:1046
# text = Then the princes said unto the king: 'Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; forasmuch as he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them; for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	princes	prince	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
9	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
10	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
11	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
16	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	15	obj	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	xcomp	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
23	forasmuch	forasmuch	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	fixed	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	weakeneth	weaken	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nmod	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
35	remain	remain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	38	det	_	_
38	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	conj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	46	det:predet	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nmod	_	_
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
49	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	26	advcl	_	_
50	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obj	_	_
52	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obl	_	_
54	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	58	punct	_	_
55	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
56	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	57	det	_	_
57	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
58	seeketh	seek	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
59	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	58	advmod	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	welfare	welfare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	_
62	of	of	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	64	det	_	_
64	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	61	nmod	_	_
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	68	punct	_	_
66	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	68	cc	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	68	det	_	_
68	hurt	hurt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	conj	_	_
69	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
70	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: command
- act: request
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the princes |  |  |  | then | unto the king | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **let** | infinitive |  | this man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **pray** | present | we | thee |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **put** | infinitive · passive | this man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to death | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP» |
| 5 | **weaken** | present | king | the hands of the men of war and the hands of all people |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |
| 6 | **remain** | present | the men of war |  |  | this city |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in city=Location |
| 7 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund | king *not said here* | such words |  |  |  | unto princes *= prince* | tree rules |
| 8 | **not** **seek** | present | this man | the welfare of this people but the hurt |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent welfare=Theme |

<!-- .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}

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וַיֹּאמְר֨וּ הַשָּׂרִ֜ים אֶל־הַמֶּ֗לֶךְ י֣וּמַת נָא֮ אֶת־הָאִ֣ישׁ הַזֶּה֒ כִּֽי־עַל־כֵּ֡ן הֽוּא־מְרַפֵּ֡א אֶת־יְדֵי֩ אַנְשֵׁ֨י הַמִּלְחָמָ֜ה הַֽנִּשְׁאָרִ֣ים ׀ בָּעִ֣יר הַזֹּ֗את וְאֵת֙ יְדֵ֣י כָל־הָעָ֔ם לְדַבֵּ֣ר אֲלֵיהֶ֔ם כַּדְּבָרִ֖ים הָאֵ֑לֶּה כִּ֣י ׀ הָאִ֣ישׁ הַזֶּ֗ה אֵינֶ֨נּוּ דֹרֵ֧שׁ לְשָׁל֛וֹם לָעָ֥ם הַזֶּ֖ה כִּ֥י אִם־לְרָעָֽה׃

[Jeremiah 38:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.38.4/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JER:1046` 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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