---
title: Exodus 37:9 (JPS 1917) — And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, screening the ark-c… · tree and pragmatics
description: And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, screening the ark-cover with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the ark-cover were the faces of the cherubim. Who acts: cherubim. Exodus 37:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Exodus 37:9 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, screening the ark-cover with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the ark-cover were the faces of the cherubim.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** cherubim · **What happens:** spread out, screen, be · **To what, where:** wings, ark cover, faces

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Exodus 37:9 · 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 (cherubim), 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:EXO:1131
# text = And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, screening the ark-cover with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the ark-cover were the faces of the cherubim.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cherubim	cherubim	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	out	out	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	advmod	_	_
9	high	high	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	screening	screen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	ark	ark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	_
15	cover	cover	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	faces	face	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
23	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nmod	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	another	another	PRON	DT	PronType=Ind	23	nmod	_	_
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
27	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	ark	ark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	_
31	cover	cover	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
32	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	faces	face	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	parataxis	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	cherubim	cherubim	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	_
38	.	.	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 | **spread out** | past | the cherubim | cherubim's wings |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wing=Theme |
| 2 | **screen** | gerund | the cherubim *not said here* | the ark cover |  |  |  | with cherubim's wings; with cherubim's faces  one to another | vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cover=Patient |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | the faces |  |  |  | toward the ark cover; of the cherubim | 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 -->
וַיִּהְי֣וּ הַכְּרֻבִים֩ פֹּרְשֵׂ֨י כְנָפַ֜יִם לְמַ֗עְלָה סֹֽכְכִ֤ים בְּכַנְפֵיהֶם֙ עַל־הַכַּפֹּ֔רֶת וּפְנֵיהֶ֖ם אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֑יו אֶל־הַכַּפֹּ֔רֶת הָי֖וּ פְּנֵ֥י הַכְּרֻבִֽים׃פ

[Exodus 37:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.37.9/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:EXO:1131` 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: [Exodus 37:8 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.1130/)
- next →: [Exodus 37:10 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.1132/)
- ↑ back to [Exodus 37:9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.37.9/)