---
title: Jeremiah 12:4 (JPS 1917) — How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole field with… · tree and pragmatics
description: How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole field wither? Who acts: land, herbs. Jeremiah 12:4 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.353/)

<!-- 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 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER/12/) / [12:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.12.4/) / JPS 1

# Jeremiah 12:4 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole field wither?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** land, herbs · **What happens:** mourn, wither

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Jeremiah 12:4 · 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 (land, herbs), 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:353
# text = How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole field wither?
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
3	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	mourn	mourn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	herbs	herb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
15	wither	wither	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	acl	_	_
16	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=q

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mourn** | shall | the land |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **wither** | infinitive | the herbs of the whole field *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=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 -->
עַד־מָתַי֙ תֶּאֱבַ֣ל הָאָ֔רֶץ וְעֵ֥שֶׂב כָּל־הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה יִיבָ֑שׁ מֵרָעַ֣ת יֹֽשְׁבֵי־בָ֗הּ סָפְתָ֤ה בְהֵמוֹת֙ וָע֔וֹף כִּ֣י אָמְר֔וּ לֹ֥א יִרְאֶ֖ה אֶת־אַחֲרִיתֵֽנוּ׃

[Jeremiah 12:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.12.4/)

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

<!-- .ens -->
1. **How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole field wither?**
2. [For the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said: 'He seeth not our end.'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.354/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JER:353` 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 12:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.352/)
- next →: [Jeremiah 12:4 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.354/)
- ↑ back to [Jeremiah 12:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.12.4/)