---
title: Isaiah 59:9 (JPS 1917) — Therefore is justice far from us, neither doth righteousness overtak… · tree and pragmatics
description: Therefore is justice far from us, neither doth righteousness overtake us; we look for light, but behold darkness, for brightness, but we walk in gloom. Who acts: justice, righteousness, we. Isaiah 59:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Isaiah 59:9 · JPS 1917

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Therefore is justice far from us, neither doth righteousness overtake us; we look for light, but behold darkness, for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

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**Who acts:** justice, righteousness, we · **What happens:** be, overtake, look, behold, walk · **To what, where:** us, darkness, gloom

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This is Isaiah 59:9 · 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 (justice, righteousness, 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:ISA:1282
# text = Therefore is justice far from us, neither doth righteousness overtake us; we look for light, but behold darkness, for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
1	Therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	justice	justice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	11	cc	_	_
9	doth	do	AUX	FW	_	11	aux	_	_
10	righteousness	righteousness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	overtake	overtake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
12	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
14	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	behold	behold	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
21	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	brightness	brightness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	walk	walk	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	gloom	gloom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | justice |  |  |  |  | from us; far, therefore *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **overtake** | do-support | righteousness | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **look** | present | we |  |  |  |  | for light | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for light=Theme |
| 4 | **behold** | present | we *not said here* | darkness |  |  |  | for brightness | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer darkness=Stimulus |
| 5 | **walk** | present | we |  |  | gloom |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in gloom=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 -->
עַל־כֵּ֗ן רָחַ֤ק מִשְׁפָּט֙ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ וְלֹ֥א תַשִּׂיגֵ֖נוּ צְדָקָ֑ה נְקַוֶּ֤ה לָאוֹר֙ וְהִנֵּה־חֹ֔שֶׁךְ לִנְגֹה֖וֹת בָּאֲפֵל֥וֹת נְהַלֵּֽךְ׃

[Isaiah 59:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Jonathan →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.59.9/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:ISA:1282` 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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