---
title: Ecclesiastes 9:11 (JPS 1917) — I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift… · tree and pragmatics
description: I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Who acts: I, race, time. Ecclesiastes 9:11 in JPS 1917
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.180/)

<!-- 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/) / [Ketuvim](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/) / [Ecclesiastes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC/) / [chapter 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC/9/) / [9:11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.9.11/) / JPS 1

# Ecclesiastes 9:11 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, race, time · **What happens:** return, see, not be, happen · **To what, where:** sun, riches · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Ecclesiastes 9:11 · 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, race, time), 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:180
# text = I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
6	under	under	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	swift	swift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	21	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	strong	strong	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	28	cc:preconj	_	_
27	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	wise	wise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	35	cc	_	_
34	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	riches	rich	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	_
36	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nmod	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	understanding	understanding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	_
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	43	cc	_	_
42	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	favour	favour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
44	to	to	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nmod	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	skill	skill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
48	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	53	punct	_	_
49	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
50	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	conj	_	_
53	happeneth	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
54	to	to	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obl	_	_
56	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	55	det	_	_
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | past | I *not said here* |  |  | the sun |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **not** **is** | present | the race |  |  |  |  | to the swift nor the battle to the strong neither bread to the wise nor riches to men of understanding nor favour to men of skill | tree rules |
| 4 | **happen** | present | time and chance |  | riches *= rich* |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
שַׁ֜בְתִּי וְרָאֹ֣ה תַֽחַת־הַשֶּׁ֗מֶשׁ כִּ֣י לֹא֩ לַקַּלִּ֨ים הַמֵּר֜וֹץ וְלֹ֧א לַגִּבּוֹרִ֣ים הַמִּלְחָמָ֗ה וְ֠גַם לֹ֣א לַחֲכָמִ֥ים לֶ֙חֶם֙ וְגַ֨ם לֹ֤א לַנְּבֹנִים֙ עֹ֔שֶׁר וְגַ֛ם לֹ֥א לַיֹּדְעִ֖ים חֵ֑ן כִּי־עֵ֥ת וָפֶ֖גַע יִקְרֶ֥ה אֶת־כֻּלָּֽם׃

[Ecclesiastes 9:11: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.9.11/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ECC:180` 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: [Ecclesiastes 9:10 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.179/)
- next →: [Ecclesiastes 9:12 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.181/)
- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 9:11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.9.11/)