---
title: Jeremiah 4:20 (JPS 1917) — Destruction followeth upon destruction, for the whole land is spoile… · tree and pragmatics
description: Destruction followeth upon destruction, for the whole land is spoiled; suddenly are my tents spoiled, my curtains in a moment. Who acts: Destruction. Jeremiah 4:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.122/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Nevi'im](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/) / [Jeremiah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER/) / [chapter 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER/4/) / [4:20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.4.20/) / JPS 1

# Jeremiah 4:20 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Destruction followeth upon destruction, for the whole land is spoiled; suddenly are my tents spoiled, my curtains in a moment.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Destruction · **What happens:** follow, spoil · **To what, where:** destruction, whole land, tents

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Jeremiah 4:20 · 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 (Destruction), 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:122
# text = Destruction followeth upon destruction, for the whole land is spoiled; suddenly are my tents spoiled, my curtains in a moment.
1	Destruction	destruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	followeth	follow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	destruction	destruction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	spoiled	spoil	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
13	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
14	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	tents	tent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	spoiled	spoil	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	curtains	curtain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed polarity=neg

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | present | Destruction |  |  | destruction |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon destruction=Location |
| 2 | **spoil** | present · passive |  | the whole land |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **spoil** | present · passive |  | my tents and my curtains in a moment |  |  |  | suddenly *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 -->
שֶׁ֤בֶר עַל־שֶׁ֙בֶר֙ נִקְרָ֔א כִּ֥י שֻׁדְּדָ֖ה כָּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ פִּתְאֹם֙ שֻׁדְּד֣וּ אֹהָלַ֔י רֶ֖גַע יְרִיעֹתָֽי׃

[Jeremiah 4:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.4.20/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JER:122` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Jeremiah 4:19 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.121/)
- next →: [Jeremiah 4:21 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.123/)
- ↑ back to [Jeremiah 4:20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.4.20/)