---
title: Ezra 5:9 (JPS 1917) — Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus: Who gave you a… · tree and pragmatics
description: Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus: Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall? Who acts: we. Ezra 5:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ezra 5:9 · JPS 1917

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Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus: Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?

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**Who acts:** we · **What happens:** ask, say, give, build, finish · **To what, where:** elders, decree, you, house, wall · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Ezra 5:9 · 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 (we), 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:EZR:128
# text = Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus: Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
4	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	elders	elder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
13	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	nsubj	_	_
14	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	iobj	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	decree	decree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl	_	_
20	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
21	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	finish	finish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
26	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	det	_	_
27	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: yes/no question
- act: ask
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | we | that elders |  |  | then |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent elder=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  | unto elders *= elder*; thus *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **give** | past |  | a decree | you |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient decree=Theme |
| 4 | **build** | to-infinitive |  | this house |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset house=Product |
| 5 | **finish** | to-infinitive |  | this wall |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality wall=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 Aramaic of this verse {#hebrew}

<!-- .vhe dir=rtl lang=arc -->
אֱדַ֗יִן שְׁאֵ֙לְנָא֙ לְשָׂבַיָּ֣א אִלֵּ֔ךְ כְּנֵ֖מָא אֲמַ֣רְנָא לְּהֹ֑םמַן־שָׂ֨ם לְכֹ֜ם טְעֵ֗ם בַּיְתָ֤א דְנָה֙ לְמִבְנְיָ֔ה וְאֻשַּׁרְנָ֥א דְנָ֖ה לְשַׁכְלָלָֽה׃

[Ezra 5:9: the Aramaic tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/EZR.5.9/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EZR:128` 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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