---
title: Genesis 19:4 (JPS 1917) — But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom… · tree and pragmatics
description: But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. Who acts: feet, men. Genesis 19:4 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Genesis 19:4 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** feet, men · **What happens:** lie down, compass · **To what, where:** house

<!-- .vabout -->
This is Genesis 19:4 · 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 (feet, men), 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:482
# text = But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
2	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
5	down	down	ADV	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	even	even	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	appos	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Sodom	Sodom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
19	compassed	compass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	round	round	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc:preconj	_	_
25	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	advcl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	_
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	31	det:predet	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	appos	_	_
32	from	from	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	34	det	_	_
34	quarter	quarter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	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 | **lie down** | past | feet *= foot* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **compass** | past | the men of the city | the house |  |  |  | round *property* | 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 -->
טֶרֶם֮ יִשְׁכָּבוּ֒ וְאַנְשֵׁ֨י הָעִ֜יר אַנְשֵׁ֤י סְדֹם֙ נָסַ֣בּוּ עַל־הַבַּ֔יִת מִנַּ֖עַר וְעַד־זָקֵ֑ן כָּל־הָעָ֖ם מִקָּצֶֽה׃

[Genesis 19:4: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.19.4/)

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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:482` 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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