---
title: Genesis 15:17 (JPS 1917) — And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thi… · tree and pragmatics
description: And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. Who acts: iniquity, sun, thick darkness, flaming torch. Genesis 15:17 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# Genesis 15:17 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** iniquity, sun, thick darkness, flaming torch · **What happens:** come, pass, go down, be · **To what, where:** pieces

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 15:17 · 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 (iniquity, sun, thick darkness, flaming torch), 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:393
# text = And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.
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	,	_	24	punct	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	12	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
13	down	down	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	there	there	PRON	EX	_	17	expl	_	_
17	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
18	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	24	discourse	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	smoking	smoking	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	furnace	furnace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	flaming	flaming	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	torch	torch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
31	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl:relcl	_	_
32	between	between	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	34	det	_	_
34	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 | **come** | past | iniquity |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | to-infinitive | iniquity *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **go down** | past | the sun |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **be** | past | thick darkness |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **pass** | past | a flaming torch |  |  | this pieces |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme between piece=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 בָּ֔אָה וַעֲלָטָ֖ה הָיָ֑ה וְהִנֵּ֨ה תַנּ֤וּר עָשָׁן֙ וְלַפִּ֣יד אֵ֔שׁ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָבַ֔ר בֵּ֖ין הַגְּזָרִ֥ים הָאֵֽלֶּה׃

[Genesis 15:17: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.15.17/)

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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:393` 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: [Genesis 15:16 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.392/)
- next →: [Genesis 15:18 (JPS)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.394/)
- ↑ back to [Genesis 15:17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.15.17/)