---
title: Jeremiah 8:8 (JPS 1917) — How do ye say: 'We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us'? · tree and pragmatics
description: How do ye say: 'We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us'? Who acts: ye, We, Law. Jeremiah 8:8 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.246/)

<!-- 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 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER/8/) / [8:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.8.8/) / JPS 1

# Jeremiah 8:8 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How do ye say: 'We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us'?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** ye, We, Law · **What happens:** say, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Jeremiah 8:8 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 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 (ye, We, Law), 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:246
# text = How do ye say: 'We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us'?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	4	nsubj	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
6	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
7	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Law	Law	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	conj	_	_
20	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- indirect: yes
- teacher: changed form=q, act=ask, indirect=1, polarity=neg

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · do-support | ye |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present | We |  |  |  |  | wise *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | the Law of the LORD |  |  |  |  | with us | 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 -->
אֵיכָ֤ה תֹֽאמְרוּ֙ חֲכָמִ֣ים אֲנַ֔חְנוּ וְתוֹרַ֥ת יְהוָ֖ה אִתָּ֑נוּ אָכֵן֙ הִנֵּ֣ה לַשֶּׁ֣קֶר עָשָׂ֔ה עֵ֖ט שֶׁ֥קֶר סֹפְרִֽים׃

[Jeremiah 8:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.8.8/)

<!-- .note -->
This verse in JPS 1917:

<!-- .ens -->
1. **How do ye say: 'We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us'?**
2. [Lo, certainly in vain hath wrought the vain pen of the scribes.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.247/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JER:246` 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 8:7 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.245/)
- next →: [Jeremiah 8:8 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.247/)
- ↑ back to [Jeremiah 8:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.8.8/)