---
title: Numbers 13:32 (JPS 1917) — And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out… · tree and pragmatics
description: And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying: 'The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. Who acts: men, we, land, pe
---

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# Numbers 13:32 · JPS 1917

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying: 'The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.

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**Who acts:** men, we, land, people · **What happens:** spread, spy out, say, pass, be, eat up · **To what, where:** evil report, land, inhabitants, people, men · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is Numbers 13:32 · 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 (men, we, land, people), 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:NUM:520
# text = And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying: 'The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	report	report	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	spied	spy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	out	out	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	unto	unto	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	Israel	Israel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
22	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
23	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	39	punct	_	_
24	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	through	through	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	obl	_	_
29	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	25	acl:relcl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	spy	spy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	out	out	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	_
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
37	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	ccomp	_	_
40	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	41	nsubj	_	_
41	eateth	eat	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	acl:relcl	_	_
42	up	up	ADP	RP	_	41	compound:prt	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	inhabitants	inhabitant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obj	_	_
45	thereof	thereof	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
46	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	57	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
48	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	50	det:predet	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	nsubj	_	_
51	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	53	obj	_	_
52	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
53	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	acl:relcl	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obl	_	_
56	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	57	cop	_	_
57	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	conj	_	_
58	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	stature	stature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nmod	_	_
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- sa -->
- form: statement
- act: evaluate
- voice: character
- polarity: neg
- teacher: changed polarity=neg

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | past | men *= man* | a evil report of the land |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location report=Theme |
| 2 | **spy out** | past · perfect | men *= man* | the land |  |  |  | unto the children of Israel | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | men *= man* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **pass** | present · perfect | we |  |  | the land |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **spy out** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | land |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 6 | **is a** | present | the land | a land and men |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **eat up** | present | a land and men | the inhabitants |  |  |  | thereof *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent inhabitant=Patient |
| 8 | **see** | past | we | all people |  | land |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer that=Stimulus |
| 9 | **is a** | present | all people | men |  |  |  | of great stature | tree rules |
| 10 | **report** |  |  | the land |  |  |  |  | nom report «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 -->
וַיּוֹצִ֜יאוּ דִּבַּ֤ת הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תָּר֣וּ אֹתָ֔הּ אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר הָאָ֡רֶץ אֲשֶׁר֩ עָבַ֨רְנוּ בָ֜הּ לָת֣וּר אֹתָ֗הּ אֶ֣רֶץ אֹכֶ֤לֶת יוֹשְׁבֶ֙יהָ֙ הִ֔וא וְכָל־הָעָ֛ם אֲשֶׁר־רָאִ֥ינוּ בְתוֹכָ֖הּ אַנְשֵׁ֥י מִדּֽוֹת׃

[Numbers 13:32: the Hebrew tree, its pragmatics and Targum Onkelos →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.13.32/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:NUM:520` 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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