---
title: Jeremiah 8:23 (JPS 1917) — Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that… · tree and pragmatics
description: Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Who acts: head, I. Jeremiah 8:23 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Jeremiah 8:23 · JPS 1917

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Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

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**Who acts:** head, I · **What happens:** be, weep · **To what, where:** waters

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This is Jeremiah 8:23 · 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 (head, I), 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:266
# text = Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
1	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	mine	mine	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	fountain	fountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	weep	weep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
20	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	slain	slain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nmod	_	_
32	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: exclamation
- act: express
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed form=excl, act=express

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | my head | waters and mine eyes |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **weep** | might | I |  |  |  | day | for the slain of the daughter of my people | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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}

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מִֽי־יִתֵּ֤ן רֹאשִׁי֙ מַ֔יִם וְעֵינִ֖י מְק֣וֹר דִּמְעָ֑ה וְאֶבְכֶּה֙ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔יְלָה אֵ֖ת חַֽלְלֵ֥י בַת־עַמִּֽי׃

[Jeremiah 8:23: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.8.23/)

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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:266` 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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