---
title: Jeremiah 1:6 (JPS 1917) — Then said I: 'Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child.' · tree and pragmatics
description: Then said I: 'Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child.' Who acts: I. Jeremiah 1:6 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Jeremiah 1:6 · JPS 1917

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Then said I: 'Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child.'

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** say, not speak, be · **To what, where:** child · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Jeremiah 1:6 · 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), 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:5
# text = Then said I: 'Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child.'
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	_
6	Ah	ah	INTJ	UH	_	16	discourse	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	Lord	Lord	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	GOD	GOD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	vocative	_	_
10	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
11	behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	16	discourse	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
18	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	advcl	_	_
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
24	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | can | I |  |  |  |  | Lord GOD *vocative* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | present | I | a child |  |  |  |  | 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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וָאֹמַ֗ר אֲהָהּ֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהֹוִ֔ה הִנֵּ֥ה לֹא־יָדַ֖עְתִּי דַּבֵּ֑רכִּי־נַ֖עַר אָנֹֽכִי׃פ

[Jeremiah 1:6: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/JER.1.6/)

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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:5` 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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