---
title: Ecclesiastes 12:5 (JPS 1917) — Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors sh… · tree and pragmatics
description: Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors shall be in the way; and the almond-tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall drag itself along, and the caperberry shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets; Who acts: daughters, terror
---

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# Ecclesiastes 12:5 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors shall be in the way; and the almond-tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall drag itself along, and the caperberry shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets;

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**Who acts:** daughters, terrors, almond tree, grasshopper, caperberry, man · **What happens:** be, blossom, drag, fail, go · **To what, where:** way, grasshopper, long home

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This is Ecclesiastes 12:5 · 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 (daughters, terrors, almond tree, grasshopper), 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:223
# text = Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors shall be in the way; and the almond-tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall drag itself along, and the caperberry shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets;
1	Also	also	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
6	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	obl	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	acl:relcl	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
14	terrors	terror	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
15	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	cop	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	almond	almond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	_
25	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
26	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	blossom	blossom	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	grasshopper	grasshopper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
32	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	drag	drag	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	conj	_	_
34	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	33	obj	_	_
35	along	along	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	caperberry	caperberry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
40	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	fail	fail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
42	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	45	punct	_	_
43	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
44	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
45	goeth	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	advcl	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
48	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	mourners	mourner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj	_	_
54	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	conj	_	_
55	about	about	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	streets	street	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	obl	_	_
58	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: neg
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | shall | daughters *= daughter* |  |  |  |  | of that; afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | high *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | shall | terrors |  |  | the way |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **blossom** | shall | the almond tree |  |  |  |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **drag** | shall | the grasshopper | grasshopper |  |  |  | along *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent itself=Theme |
| 6 | **fail** | shall | the caperberry |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **go** | present | man |  |  | caperberry's long home |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to home=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **go** | present | the mourners |  |  |  |  | about the streets | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme about street=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 -->
גַּ֣ם מִגָּבֹ֤הַּ יִרָ֙אוּ֙ וְחַתְחַתִּ֣ים בַּדֶּ֔רֶךְ וְיָנֵ֤אץ הַשָּׁקֵד֙ וְיִסְתַּבֵּ֣ל הֶֽחָגָ֔ב וְתָפֵ֖ר הָֽאֲבִיּוֹנָ֑ה כִּֽי־הֹלֵ֤ךְ הָאָדָם֙ אֶל־בֵּ֣ית עוֹלָמ֔וֹ וְסָבְב֥וּ בָשּׁ֖וּקהַסֹּפְדִֽים׃

[Ecclesiastes 12:5: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.12.5/)

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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:223` 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 12:4 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.222/)
- next →: [Ecclesiastes 12:6 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.224/)
- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 12:5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.12.5/)