---
title: Ecclesiastes 6:9 (JPS 1917) — Better is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire; t… · tree and pragmatics
description: Better is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire; this also is vanity and a striving after wind. Who acts: seeing, this. Ecclesiastes 6:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ecclesiastes 6:9 · JPS 1917

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Better is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire; this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

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**Who acts:** seeing, this · **What happens:** be, wander · **To what, where:** vanity, desire

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This is Ecclesiastes 6:9 · 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 (seeing, this), 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:ECC:119
# text = Better is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire; this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
1	Better	better	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	seeing	see	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	wandering	wandering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	desire	desire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
15	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	nsubj	_	_
16	also	also	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	vanity	vanity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	parataxis	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	striving	strive	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	_
22	after	after	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the seeing of the eyes |  |  |  |  | than the wandering of the desire; better *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | this | vanity and a striving after wind |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **wander** |  |  | the desire |  |  |  |  | nom wandering «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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}

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ט֛וֹב מַרְאֵ֥ה עֵינַ֖יִם מֵֽהֲלָךְ־נָ֑פֶשׁ גַּם־זֶ֥ה הֶ֖בֶל וּרְע֥וּת רֽוּחַ׃

[Ecclesiastes 6:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.6.9/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ECC:119` 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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- ← previous: [Ecclesiastes 6:8 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.118/)
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- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 6:9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.6.9/)