把 Fronts the Object in 1,632 Bible Clauses
Answering: “how does the ba construction work”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
把 moves the object in front of the verb to foreground what is done to it, and the verb must say what became of it. 把国归于耶西 — 'turned the kingdom over to Jesse'.
- HSK level
- 3
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 1,632
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Genesis
- where it is commonest
- How sure
- Counted
- 97% of a checked sample
Practise it
Tap the words that carry the pattern.
：「」，
The same verses, in full
Easiest first: ranked by how much of each verse sits at or below HSK 3, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
他们tā men说shuō：「我们wǒ men把bǎ女子nǚ zǐ叫jiào来lái问wèn问wèn她tā」，
They said, “We will call the young lady, and ask her.”
Genesis 24:57 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
所以suǒ yǐ你nǐ要yào把bǎ所suǒ看见kàn jiàn的de，和hé现在xiàn zài的de事shì，并bìng将来jiāng lái必bì成chéng的de事shì，都dōu写xiě出来chū lái。
Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter.
Revelation 1:19 · 95% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
说shuō：「我wǒ把bǎ他tā交给jiāo gěi你们nǐ men，你们nǐ men愿意yuàn yì给gěi我wǒ多少duō shǎo钱qián？」他们tā men就jiù给gěi了le他tā三十sān shí块kuài钱qián。
and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you?” So they weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.
Matthew 26:15 · 95% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
我wǒ还hái在zài你们nǐ men那里nà li的de时候shí hou，曾céng把bǎ这些zhè xiē事shì告诉gào sù你们nǐ men，你们nǐ men不bú记得jì de吗ma？
Don’t you remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?
2 Thessalonians 2:5 · 94% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他们tā men就jiù把bǎ主zhǔ的de道dào讲jiǎng给gěi他tā和hé他tā全家quán jiā的de人rén听tīng。
They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.
Acts 16:32 · 93% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
没有méi yǒu人rén把bǎ新xīn布bù缝fèng在zài旧jiù衣服yī fu上shàng，恐怕kǒng pà所suǒ补bǔ上shàng的de新xīn布bù带坏dài huài了le旧jiù衣服yī fu，破pò的de就jiù更gèng大dà了le。
No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the patch shrinks and the new tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made.
Mark 2:21 · 93% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Genesis 24 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 3 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 3 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
把 takes the object out of its usual place after the verb and puts it in front, which is why textbooks call it the disposal construction: it is used when something is done to the object and something becomes of it. 把他交给你们, hand him over to you. The verb cannot stand bare afterwards; it needs a result, a destination or a recipient.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 把 1,816 times. 184 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
It is a genuinely common construction in this translation, and an unusually good one to learn from real text: the narrative books are full of things being taken, given, placed and brought, which is exactly the semantic territory 把 covers.
It is commonest in Genesis, with 168 of them, and 68% of all of them fall in the Old Testament — which is mostly a statement about length, since the Old Testament is the longer part of the book.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|
| 把 | bǎ | 3 | 1,815 |
| 把 | bà | 3 | 1 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 3.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 1,632 | 90% |
| the same words doing something else | 184 | 10% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Genesis | 168 |
| Leviticus | 154 |
| Exodus | 140 |
| Numbers | 113 |
| Luke | 107 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
Counted
The rule: 把 read bǎ, then one to five words, then a word with a verb sense — the object standing before what is done to it.
30 of 1,632 matches were drawn at random and read in context; 97% were right. Checked by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker. Recall is not measured: this is what the rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
This point is HSK 3 because that is the highest HSK level of the point's own function words, as data/dict.json grades them; a word the HSK lists do not grade sends the point to 'beyond'.
Questions
- Why does the Chinese Bible also use 将 for this?
- Because 将 is the literary form of the same construction, and this translation prefers it: it uses 将 in more clauses than 把. Both put the object before the verb and both require the verb to say what became of it.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 1,632 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 1,816 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Genesis, with 168 — followed by Leviticus (154), Exodus (140), Numbers (113).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 把 read bǎ, then one to five words, then a word with a verb sense — the object standing before what is done to it. 30 of its 1,632 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 97% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
Related reference pages
Take it further
- 97 ready-made vocabulary decks — by HSK level, by book or by topic, exportable to Anki, Pleco or Quizlet.
- Printable 田字格 worksheets — passages with pinyin, meanings and tracing rows.
- The parallel reader — Chinese, pinyin and your own language side by side, every word tappable.
- The dataset behind these numbers — plain JSON, free to reuse with attribution.
How this was measured
Edition: Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified). Every figure comes from one pass over all 1,189 chapters and 31,021 verses, 650,628word tokens in total, using the site’s own segmentation. A construction count is published only when a hand-checked sample of the rule that found it was at least 90% correct; between 70% and that it is published as an approximation, and below it no count is published at all. Generated 2026-09-26.