---
title: Jeremiah 10:23 (JPS 1917) — O LORD, I know that man's way is not his own; it is not in man to di… · tree and pragmatics
description: O LORD, I know that man's way is not his own; it is not in man to direct his steps as he walketh. Who acts: I, way, it, LORD. Jeremiah 10:23 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Jeremiah 10:23 · JPS 1917

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O LORD, I know that man's way is not his own; it is not in man to direct his steps as he walketh.

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**Who acts:** I, way, it, LORD · **What happens:** know, not be, direct, walk, step · **To what, where:** steps · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Jeremiah 10:23 · 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 (I, way, it, 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:322
# text = O LORD, I know that man's way is not his own; it is not in man to direct his steps as he walketh.
1	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	2	discourse	_	_
2	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	vocative	_	_
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	parataxis	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	direct	direct	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	csubj	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	walketh	walk	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed voice=character

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  | LORD *vocative* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present | man's way |  |  |  |  | own *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | in man | tree rules |
| 4 | **direct** | to-infinitive |  | LORD's steps |  |  |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent step=Eventuality |
| 5 | **walk** | present | LORD |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **step** |  | LORD |  |  |  |  |  | nom step «act transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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יָדַ֣עְתִּי יְהוָ֔ה כִּ֛י לֹ֥א לָאָדָ֖ם דַּרְכּ֑וֹ לֹֽא־לְאִ֣ישׁ הֹלֵ֔ךְ וְהָכִ֖ין אֶֽת־צַעֲדֽוֹ׃

[Jeremiah 10:23: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.10.23/)

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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:322` 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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