---
title: Jeremiah 5:4 (JPS 1917) — And I said: 'Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know… · tree and pragmatics
description: And I said: 'Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the ordinance of their God; Who acts: I, these, eyes. Jeremiah 5:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Jeremiah 5:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And I said: 'Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the ordinance of their God;

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, these, eyes · **What happens:** say, be, not know, ordain · **To what, where:** way, God · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Jeremiah 5:4 · 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 (I, these, eyes), 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:139
# text = And I said: 'Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the ordinance of their God;
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
6	Surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	parataxis	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	27	cc	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	ordinance	ordinance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | these |  |  |  |  | poor, surely *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | eyes *= eye* |  |  |  |  | foolish *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **know** | present | eyes *= eye* | the way of the LORD nor the ordinance of eyes's God |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer way=Stimulus |
| 5 | **ordain** |  |  | eyes's God |  |  |  |  | nom ordinance «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 -->
וַאֲנִ֣י אָמַ֔רְתִּי אַךְ־דַּלִּ֖ים הֵ֑ם נוֹאֲל֕וּ כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יָדְעוּ֙ דֶּ֣רֶךְ יְהוָ֔ה מִשְׁפַּ֖ט אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃

[Jeremiah 5:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.5.4/)

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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:139` 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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