---
title: Numbers 23:19 (JPS 1917) — God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that H… · tree and pragmatics
description: God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: when He hath said, will He not do it? or when He hath spoken, will He not make it good? Who acts: God, son. Numbers 23:19 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Numbers 23:19 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: when He hath said, will He not do it? or when He hath spoken, will He not make it good?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** God, son · **What happens:** not be, lie, repent, say, not do, speak · **To what, where:** man, ear · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Numbers 23:19 · 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 (God, son), 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:NUM:855
# text = God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: when He hath said, will He not do it? or when He hath spoken, will He not make it good?
1	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
12	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	14	cc:preconj	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	repent	repent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
22	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
23	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	26	mark	_	_
24	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	_
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
28	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	_
34	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
35	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	38	mark	_	_
36	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	hath	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	43	advcl	_	_
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
40	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
41	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
43	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
44	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	_
45	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	xcomp	_	_
46	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	43	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: changed form=decl, act=assert, voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | present | God | a man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lie** | should | God |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **repent** | should | the son of man |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · perfect | son |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **do** | future | son | ear |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 6 | **speak** *speech: other* | present · perfect | son |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **not** **make** | future | son | ear |  |  |  | good *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Product |

<!-- .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 -->
לֹ֣א אִ֥ישׁ אֵל֙ וִֽיכַזֵּ֔ב וּבֶן־אָדָ֖ם וְיִתְנֶחָ֑ם הַה֤וּא אָמַר֙ וְלֹ֣א יַעֲשֶׂ֔ה וְדִבֶּ֖ר וְלֹ֥א יְקִימֶֽנָּה׃

[Numbers 23:19: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.23.19/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NUM:855` 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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