---
title: Genesis 11:9 (JPS 1917) — Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did ther… · tree and pragmatics
description: Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Who acts: LORD. Genesis 11:9 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 11:9 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** LORD · **What happens:** call, confound, scatter, name · **To what, where:** name, language, face · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 11:9 · 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 (LORD), 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:GEN:287
# text = Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
1	Therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	_
7	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	Babel	Babel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	xcomp	_	_
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
10	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
13	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
15	confound	confound	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	thence	thence	ADV	RB	_	29	obl	_	_
26	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	LORD	LORD	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	scatter	scatter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	abroad	abroad	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
32	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	38	det:predet	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	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 | **call** | past · passive |  | the name of face |  |  |  | therefore *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **confound** | past · do-support | the LORD | the language of all earth |  | there |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus language=Experiencer |
| 3 | **scatter** | past · do-support | the LORD | language |  | the face of all earth |  | abroad *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme upon face=Destination |
| 4 | **name** |  |  | face |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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־כֵּ֞ן קָרָ֤א שְׁמָהּ֙ בָּבֶ֔ל כִּי־שָׁ֛ם בָּלַ֥ל יְהוָ֖ה שְׂפַ֣ת כָּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וּמִשָּׁם֙ הֱפִיצָ֣ם יְהוָ֔ה עַל־פְּנֵ֖י כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃פ

[Genesis 11:9: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.11.9/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:GEN:287` 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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