---
title: Ruth 3:9 (JPS 1917) — And he said: 'Who art thou?' And she answered: 'I am Ruth thine hand… · tree and pragmatics
description: And he said: 'Who art thou?' And she answered: 'I am Ruth thine handmaid; spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.' Who acts: man, thou, woman, I. Ruth 3:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ruth 3:9 · JPS 1917

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And he said: 'Who art thou?' And she answered: 'I am Ruth thine handmaid; spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.'

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**Who acts:** man, thou, woman, I · **What happens:** say, be, answer, spread · **To what, where:** Ruth, skirt, handmaid, near kinsman · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Ruth 3:9 · 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 (man, thou, woman, 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:RUT:59
# text = And he said: 'Who art thou?' And she answered: 'I am Ruth thine handmaid; spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.'
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	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	_
6	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	ccomp	_	_
7	art	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
8	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	6	nsubj	_	_
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
10	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
11	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
15	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	Ruth	Ruth	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	ccomp	_	_
19	thine	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	handmaid	handmaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	appos	_	_
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
22	spread	spread	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	parataxis	_	_
23	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	skirt	skirt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
26	over	over	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	handmaid	handmaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
30	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
31	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	35	nsubj	_	_
32	art	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	near	near	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	kinsman	kinsman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	advcl	_	_
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
37	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | present | thou |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | present | I | Ruth |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **spread** | infinitive |  | thy skirt |  | thy handmaid |  | therefore *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent skirt=Theme over handmaid=Destination |
| 6 | **is a** | present | thou | a near kinsman |  |  |  |  | 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}

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וַיֹּ֖אמֶר מִי־אָ֑תּוַתֹּ֗אמֶר אָנֹכִי֙ ר֣וּת אֲמָתֶ֔ךָ וּפָרַשְׂתָּ֤ כְנָפֶ֙ךָ֙ עַל־אֲמָ֣תְךָ֔ כִּ֥י גֹאֵ֖ל אָֽתָּה׃

[Ruth 3:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and the Targum →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/RUT.3.9/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:RUT:59` 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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