---
title: Genesis 15:12 (JPS 1917) — And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep… · tree and pragmatics
description: And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him. Who acts: prey, sun, deep sleep, dread. Genesis 15:12 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 15:12 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** prey, sun, deep sleep, dread · **What happens:** come, pass, go down, fall · **To what, where:** Abram

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This is Genesis 15:12 · 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 (prey, sun, deep sleep, dread), 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:388
# text = And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	13	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
14	down	down	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
20	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	Abram	Abram	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	lo	lo	INTJ	UH	_	35	discourse	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	dread	dread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	even	even	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	appos	_	_
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
35	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
36	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obl	_	_
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: assert
- voice: narrator
- polarity: pos
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | prey |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive | prey *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **go down** | past · progressive | the sun |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **fall** | past | a deep sleep |  |  | Abram |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon abram=Location |
| 5 | **fall** | past | a dread |  |  |  |  | upon Abram | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon he=Location |

<!-- .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 -->
וַיְהִ֤י הַשֶּׁ֙מֶשׁ֙ לָב֔וֹא וְתַרְדֵּמָ֖ה נָפְלָ֣ה עַל־אַבְרָ֑ם וְהִנֵּ֥ה אֵימָ֛ה חֲשֵׁכָ֥ה גְדֹלָ֖ה נֹפֶ֥לֶת עָלָֽיו׃

[Genesis 15:12: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.15.12/)

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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:388` 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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