---
title: Ecclesiastes 12:7 (JPS 1917) — And the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit return… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it. Who acts: dust, spirit, God. Ecclesiastes 12:7 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/ketuvim/jps/ECC.225/)

<!-- 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 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC/12/) / [12:7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.12.7/) / JPS 1

# Ecclesiastes 12:7 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** dust, spirit, God · **What happens:** return, give · **To what, where:** spirit

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Ecclesiastes 12:7 · 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 (dust, spirit, God), 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:225
# text = And the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	returneth	return	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	returneth	return	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
16	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | present | the dust |  |  |  |  | to the earth *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to earth=Result |
| 2 | **return** | present | the spirit |  |  |  |  | unto God | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **give** | past | God | spirit |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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 -->
וְיָשֹׁ֧ב הֶעָפָ֛ר עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ כְּשֶׁהָיָ֑ה וְהָר֣וּחַ תָּשׁ֔וּב אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר נְתָנָֽהּ׃

[Ecclesiastes 12:7: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.12.7/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ECC:225` 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 12:6 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.224/)
- next →: [Ecclesiastes 12:8 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.226/)
- ↑ back to [Ecclesiastes 12:7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.12.7/)