---
title: Jeremiah 46:23 (JPS 1917) — They cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be search… · tree and pragmatics
description: They cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable. Who acts: mercenaries, LORD. Jeremiah 46:23 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Jeremiah 46:23 · JPS 1917

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They cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.

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**Who acts:** mercenaries, LORD · **What happens:** cut down, say, not search, be · **To what, where:** forest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Jeremiah 46:23 · 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 (mercenaries, LORD), 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:1221
# text = They cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	down	down	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	saith	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	searched	search	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
18	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	advcl	_	_
22	than	than	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	locusts	locust	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
28	innumerable	innumerable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	_
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut down** | past | mercenaries *= mercenary* | sound's forest |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset forest=Product |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the LORD |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **search** | can · passive |  | forest |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Location |
| 4 | **is** | present | mercenaries *= mercenary* |  |  |  |  | than the locusts; more *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | present | mercenaries *= mercenary* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | innumerable *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 -->
כָּרְת֤וּ יַעְרָהּ֙ נְאֻם־יְהוָ֔ה כִּ֖י לֹ֣א יֵֽחָקֵ֑ר כִּ֤י רַבּוּ֙ מֵֽאַרְבֶּ֔ה וְאֵ֥ין לָהֶ֖ם מִסְפָּֽר׃

[Jeremiah 46:23: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.46.23/)

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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:1221` 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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