---
title: Jeremiah 38:16 (JPS 1917) — So Zedekiah the king swore secretly unto Jeremiah, saying: 'As the L… · tree and pragmatics
description: So Zedekiah the king swore secretly unto Jeremiah, saying: 'As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.' Who acts: Zedekiah, LORD, I, men. Jeremiah 38:16 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Jeremiah 38:16 · JPS 1917

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So Zedekiah the king swore secretly unto Jeremiah, saying: 'As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.'

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**Who acts:** Zedekiah, LORD, I, men · **What happens:** swear, say, live, make, not put, give · **To what, where:** soul, us, thee, hand, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Jeremiah 38:16 · 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 (Zedekiah, LORD, I, men), 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:1059
# text = So Zedekiah the king swore secretly unto Jeremiah, saying: 'As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.'
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	Zedekiah	Zedekiah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
5	swore	swear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	secretly	secretly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	Jeremiah	Jeremiah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
12	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	_
13	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	liveth	live	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
20	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	iobj	_	_
21	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	22	det	_	_
22	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
28	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	27	obj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	35	cc	_	_
33	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	conj	_	_
36	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	35	iobj	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	42	det	_	_
42	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nmod	_	_
43	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	44	nsubj	_	_
44	seek	seek	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	acl:relcl	_	_
45	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
48	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: promise
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swear** | past | Zedekiah |  |  |  |  | unto Jeremiah; secretly *property* | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Zedekiah *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **live** | present | the LORD |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **make** | past | the LORD | this soul | us |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset we=Beneficiary soul=Product |
| 5 | **not** **put** | future | I | thee |  |  |  | to death | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent thou=Goal |
| 6 | **give** | future | I |  | thee | the hand of this men |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thou=Theme |
| 7 | **seek** | present | this men | thy life |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=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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וַיִּשָּׁבַ֞ע הַמֶּ֧לֶךְ צִדְקִיָּ֛הוּ אֶֽל־יִרְמְיָ֖הוּ בַּסֵּ֣תֶר לֵאמֹ֑ר חַי־יְהוָ֞ה אֲשֶׁר֩ עָשָׂה־לָ֨נוּ אֶת־הַנֶּ֤פֶשׁ הַזֹּאת֙ אִם־אֲמִיתֶ֔ךָ וְאִם־אֶתֶּנְךָ֗ בְּיַד֙ הָאֲנָשִׁ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֥ר מְבַקְשִׁ֖ים אֶת־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃ס

[Jeremiah 38:16: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.38.16/)

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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:1059` 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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