---
title: Jeremiah 2:20 (JPS 1917) — For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands, and tho… · tree and pragmatics
description: For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands, and thou saidst: 'I will not transgress'; upon every high hill and under every leafy tree thou didst recline, playing the harlot. Who acts: I, thou. Jeremiah 2:20 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Jeremiah 2:20 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands, and thou saidst: 'I will not transgress'; upon every high hill and under every leafy tree thou didst recline, playing the harlot.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, thou · **What happens:** break, burst, say, not transgress, recline, play · **To what, where:** yoke, bands, high hill, harlot · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Jeremiah 2:20 · 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, thou), 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:42
# text = For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands, and thou saidst: 'I will not transgress'; upon every high hill and under every leafy tree thou didst recline, playing the harlot.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	yoke	yoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	burst	burst	VERB	VBD	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
13	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	bands	band	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	nsubj	_	_
18	saidst	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	transgress	transgress	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	ccomp	_	_
25	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
27	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	det	_	_
29	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
32	under	under	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	35	det	_	_
34	leafy	leafy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
36	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	38	nsubj	_	_
37	didst	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	recline	recline	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	38	advcl	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	harlot	harlot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | present · perfect | I | thy yoke |  |  | time |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer yoke=Patient |
| 2 | **burst** | past | I *not said here* | thy bands |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location band=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | thou |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **transgress** | future | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **recline** | past · do-support | thou |  |  | every high hill and every leafy tree |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon hill=Location |
| 6 | **play** | gerund | thou *not said here* | the harlot |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harlot=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
כִּ֣י מֵעוֹלָ֞ם שָׁבַ֣רְתִּי עֻלֵּ֗ךְ נִתַּ֙קְתִּי֙ מוֹסְרֹתַ֔יִךְ וַתֹּאמְרִ֖י לֹ֣א אֶעֱב֑וֹר כִּ֣י עַֽל־כָּל־גִּבְעָ֞ה גְּבֹהָ֗ה וְתַ֙חַת֙ כָּל־עֵ֣ץ רַעֲנָ֔ן אַ֖תְּ צֹעָ֥ה זֹנָֽה׃

[Jeremiah 2:20: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.2.20/)

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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:42` 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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