---
title: Job 38:4 (JPS 1917) — Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? · tree and pragmatics
description: Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who acts: thou, I. Job 38:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Job 38:4 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2

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Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?

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**Who acts:** thou, I · **What happens:** be, lay · **To what, where:** foundations

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This is Job 38:4 · JPS 1917, sentence 1 of 2 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 (thou, I), 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:JOB:1002
# text = Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
1	Where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
2	wast	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	cop	_	_
3	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	1	nsubj	_	_
4	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	6	mark	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	advcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	foundations	foundation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: wh-question
- act: ask
- voice: character
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | thou |  |  |  |  | where *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **lay** | past | I | the foundations of the earth |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent foundation=Result |

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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}

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אֵיפֹ֣ה הָ֭יִיתָ בְּיָסְדִי־אָ֑רֶץ הַ֝גֵּ֗ד אִם־יָדַ֥עְתָּ בִינָֽה׃

[Job 38:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.38.4/)

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This verse in JPS 1917:

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1. **Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?**
2. [Declare, if thou hast the understanding.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/JOB.1003/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:JOB:1002` 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: [Job 38:3 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/JOB.1001/)
- next →: [Job 38:4 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/JOB.1003/)
- ↑ back to [Job 38:4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.38.4/)