---
title: Jeremiah 8:8 (JPS 1917) — Lo, certainly in vain hath wrought the vain pen of the scribes. · tree and pragmatics
description: Lo, certainly in vain hath wrought the vain pen of the scribes. Who acts: vain pen. Jeremiah 8:8 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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

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Lo, certainly in vain hath wrought the vain pen of the scribes.

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**Who acts:** vain pen · **What happens:** wrought · **To what, where:** vain

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This is Jeremiah 8:8 · JPS 1917, sentence 2 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 (vain pen), 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:247
# text = Lo, certainly in vain hath wrought the vain pen of the scribes.
1	Lo	lo	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	_
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	obl	_	_
6	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	wrought	wrought	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	pen	pen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	scribes	scribe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wrought** | present · perfect | the vain pen of the scribes |  |  | vain |  | certainly *property* | tree rules |

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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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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/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. [How do ye say: 'We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us'?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.246/)
2. **Lo, certainly in vain hath wrought the vain pen of the scribes.**

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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:247` 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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