---
title: Deuteronomy 32:28 (JPS 1917) — For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding… · tree and pragmatics
description: For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. Who acts: adversaries, understanding. Deuteronomy 32:28 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/torah/jps/DEU.913/)

<!-- 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/) / [Torah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/) / [Deuteronomy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU/) / [chapter 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU/32/) / [32:28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.32.28/) / JPS 1

# Deuteronomy 32:28 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** adversaries, understanding · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** nation

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Deuteronomy 32:28 · 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 (adversaries, understanding), 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:DEU:913
# text = For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	nation	nation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	void	void	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	counsel	counsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	_
12	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
13	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	14	det	_	_
14	understanding	understanding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	_
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed polarity=neg, voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | adversaries *= adversary* | a nation |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | present | no understanding |  |  | there |  | in adversaries *= adversary* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in they=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
כִּי־ג֛וֹי אֹבַ֥ד עֵצ֖וֹת הֵ֑מָּה וְאֵ֥ין בָּהֶ֖ם תְּבוּנָֽה׃

[Deuteronomy 32:28: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.32.28/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:DEU:913` 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: [Deuteronomy 32:27 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/DEU.912/)
- next →: [Deuteronomy 32:29 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/DEU.914/)
- ↑ back to [Deuteronomy 32:28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.32.28/)