---
title: Nehemiah 8:3 (JPS 1917) — And he read therein before the broad place that was before the water… · tree and pragmatics
description: And he read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the Law. Who acts: Ezra, broad place, ears. Nehemiah
---

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# Nehemiah 8:3 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And he read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the Law.

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**Who acts:** Ezra, broad place, ears · **What happens:** read, be, understand · **To what, where:** presence

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Nehemiah 8:3 · 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 (Ezra, broad place, ears), 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:NEH:223
# text = And he read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the Law.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	read	read	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	therein	therein	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	before	before	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
11	before	before	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	acl:relcl	_	_
15	from	from	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	early	early	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
18	until	until	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	midday	midday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	conj	_	_
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	29	conj	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	36	nsubj	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	acl:relcl	_	_
37	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nsubj	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	44	det:predet	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	_
45	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
46	attentive	attentive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
47	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	Law	Law	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | past | Ezra |  |  | the presence of the men and the women | before the broad place; until midday; morning | therein *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | the broad place |  |  |  | before the water gate |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **understand** | could |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | past | the ears of all people |  |  |  |  | unto the book of the Law; attentive *property* | 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 -->
וַיִּקְרָא־בוֹ֩ לִפְנֵ֨י הָרְח֜וֹב אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ לִפְנֵ֣י שַֽׁעַר־הַמַּ֗יִם מִן־הָאוֹר֙ עַד־מַחֲצִ֣ית הַיּ֔וֹם נֶ֛גֶד הָאֲנָשִׁ֥ים וְהַנָּשִׁ֖ים וְהַמְּבִינִ֑ים וְאָזְנֵ֥י כָל־הָעָ֖ם אֶל־סֵ֥פֶר הַתּוֹרָֽה׃

[Nehemiah 8:3: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.8.3/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NEH: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: [Nehemiah 8:2 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.222/)
- next →: [Nehemiah 8:4 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/NEH.224/)
- ↑ back to [Nehemiah 8:3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/NEH.8.3/)