---
title: Malachi 2:7 (JPS 1917) — For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek th… · tree and pragmatics
description: For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. Who acts: lips, LORD. Malachi 2:7 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Malachi 2:7 · JPS 1917

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For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

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**Who acts:** lips, LORD · **What happens:** keep, seek, be · **To what, where:** knowledge, law, mouth, messenger

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This is Malachi 2:7 · 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 (lips, 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:MAL:26
# text = For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
6	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	advcl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	hosts	host	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	_
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | should | the priest's lips | knowledge |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knowledge=Theme |
| 2 | **seek** | should | lips *= lip* | the law |  | LORD's mouth |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent law=Theme at mouth=Location |
| 3 | **is a** | present | LORD | the messenger |  |  |  | of the LORD of hosts | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
כִּֽי־שִׂפְתֵ֤י כֹהֵן֙ יִשְׁמְרוּ־דַ֔עַת וְתוֹרָ֖ה יְבַקְשׁ֣וּ מִפִּ֑יהוּ כִּ֛י מַלְאַ֥ךְ יְהוָֽה־צְבָא֖וֹת הֽוּא׃

[Malachi 2:7: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/MAL.2.7/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:MAL:26` 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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