---
title: Habakkuk 1:8 (JPS 1917) — Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce tha… · tree and pragmatics
description: Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the wolves of the desert; and their horsemen spread themselves; yea, their horsemen come from far, they fly as a vulture that hasteth to devour. Who acts: horses, horsemen, places, vulture. Habakkuk 1:8 in JPS 1917 with its depend
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/HAB.9/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tanakh/) / [Nevi'im](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/) / [Habakkuk](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/HAB/) / [chapter 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/HAB/1/) / [1:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/HAB.1.8/) / JPS 1

# Habakkuk 1:8 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the wolves of the desert; and their horsemen spread themselves; yea, their horsemen come from far, they fly as a vulture that hasteth to devour.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** horses, horsemen, places, vulture · **What happens:** be, spread, come, fly, haste, devour · **To what, where:** places

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Habakkuk 1:8 · 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 (horses, horsemen, places, vulture), 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:HAB:9
# text = Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the wolves of the desert; and their horsemen spread themselves; yea, their horsemen come from far, they fly as a vulture that hasteth to devour.
1	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	also	also	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	swifter	swift	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
6	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	leopards	leopard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	12	advmod	_	_
12	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
13	than	than	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	horsemen	horseman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
23	spread	spread	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
24	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	23	obj	_	_
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
26	yea	yea	INTJ	UH	_	30	discourse	_	_
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	horsemen	horseman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
30	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	30	obl	_	_
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	fly	fly	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	parataxis	_	_
36	as	as	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	vulture	vulture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
40	hasteth	haste	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	acl:relcl	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	devour	devour	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	advcl	_	_
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: character
- polarity: pos
- teacher: changed voice=character

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | places's horses |  |  |  |  | than leopards; swift *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | places's horses *not said here* |  |  |  |  | than the wolves of the desert; fierce *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **spread** | present | places's horsemen | places *= place* |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location themselves=Theme |
| 4 | **come** | present | places's horsemen |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from far=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **fly** | present | places *= place* |  |  |  |  | as a vulture | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **haste** | present | a vulture |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **devour** | to-infinitive | a vulture *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
וְקַלּ֨וּ מִנְּמֵרִ֜ים סוּסָ֗יו וְחַדּוּ֙ מִזְּאֵ֣בֵי עֶ֔רֶב וּפָ֖שׁוּ פָּֽרָשָׁ֑יו וּפָֽרָשָׁיו֙ מֵרָח֣וֹק יָבֹ֔אוּ יָעֻ֕פוּ כְּנֶ֖שֶׁר חָ֥שׁ לֶאֱכֽוֹל׃

[Habakkuk 1:8: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/HAB.1.8/)

<!-- div src -->

**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:HAB:9` 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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Habakkuk 1:7 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/HAB.8/)
- next →: [Habakkuk 1:9 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/HAB.10/)
- ↑ back to [Habakkuk 1:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/HAB.1.8/)