---
title: Esther 1:1 (JPS 1917) — NOW IT came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus — this is Ahasuerus who… · tree and pragmatics
description: NOW IT came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus — this is Ahasuerus who reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces — Who acts: IT, this, Ahasuerus. Esther 1:1 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Esther 1:1 · JPS 1917

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NOW IT came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus — this is Ahasuerus who reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces —

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** IT, this, Ahasuerus · **What happens:** come, pass, be, reign · **To what, where:** Ahasuerus, hundred provinces, India

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This is Esther 1:1 · 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 (IT, this, Ahasuerus), 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:EST:0
# text = NOW IT came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus — this is Ahasuerus who reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces —
1	NOW	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	IT	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	Ahasuerus	Ahasuerus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
12	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	Ahasuerus	Ahasuerus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	reigned	reign	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
20	even	even	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Ethiopia	Ethiopia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	over	over	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	conj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	conj	_	_
31	provinces	province	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	_
32	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- 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 | **come** | past | IT |  |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  | day |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | present | this | Ahasuerus |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **reign** | past | Ahasuerus | hundred provinces |  | India |  | unto Ethiopia | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיְהִ֖י בִּימֵ֣י אֲחַשְׁוֵר֑וֹשׁ ה֣וּא אֲחַשְׁוֵר֗וֹשׁ הַמֹּלֵךְ֙ מֵהֹ֣דּוּ וְעַד־כּ֔וּשׁ שֶׁ֛בַע וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים וּמֵאָ֖ה מְדִינָֽה׃

[Esther 1:1: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EST.1.1/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EST:0` 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 12:14 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/ECC.232/)
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