便 Before the Verb in 466 Bible Clauses
Answering: “what does bian mean in the Chinese Bible”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
便 stands before the verb and says the next thing followed directly — the literary twin of 就, and common in this translation.
- HSK level
- 6
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 466
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Genesis
- where it is commonest
- How sure
- Counted
- 100% 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 6, 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便biàn给gěi他tā一yí片piàn烧shāo鱼yú。
They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.
Luke 24:42 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
你nǐ给gěi它们tā men，它们tā men便biàn拾shí起来qǐ lái； 你nǐ张zhāng手shǒu，它们tā men饱bǎo得dé美食měi shí。
You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good.
Psalms 104:28 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
若ruò不然bù rán，你nǐ就jiù听tīng我wǒ说shuō； 你nǐ不要bú yào作zuò声shēng，我wǒ便biàn将jiāng智慧zhì huì教训jiào xun你nǐ。
If not, listen to me. Hold your peace, and I will teach you wisdom.”
Job 33:33 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
把bǎ你们nǐ men的de小xiǎo兄弟xiōng dì带dài到dào我wǒ这里zhè lǐ来lái，如此rú cǐ，你们nǐ men的话de huà便biàn有yǒu证据zhèng jù，你们nǐ men也yě不至于bú zhì yú死sǐ。」他们tā men就jiù照样zhào yàng而ér行xíng。
Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won’t die.” They did so.
Genesis 42:20 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他tā便biàn知道zhī dào这zhè正是zhèng shì耶稣yē sū对duì他tā说shuō「你nǐ儿子ér zi活huó了le」的de时候shí hou；他tā自己zì jǐ和hé全家quán jiā就jiù都dōu信xìn了le。
So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” He believed, as did his whole house.
John 4:53 · 96% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他们tā men若ruò说shuō：『你们nǐ men上shàng到dào我们wǒ men这里zhè lǐ来lái』，这zhè话huà就是jiù shì我们wǒ men的de证据zhèng jù；我们wǒ men便biàn上去shàng qù，因为yīn wèi耶和华yē hé huá将jiāng他们tā men交jiāo在zài我们wǒ men手里shǒu lǐ了le。」
But if they say this, ‘Come up to us!’ then we will go up, for the LORD has delivered them into our hand. This shall be the sign to us.”
1 Samuel 14:10 · 96% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Luke 24 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 6 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 6 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
便 says the next thing followed directly: 地便震动, and the earth shook; 他便说, then he said. It is 就 in a literary coat, and this translation uses both, sometimes within a verse of each other.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 便 641 times. 175 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
There is a trap in counting it. 便 is also the second syllable of 吕便, Reuben, and the segmenter splits transliterated names into syllables — so a rule that simply looks for 便 before a verb collects a tribe of Israel along with its adverbs. The checked sample says how often that happened.
The rule is: 便 immediately before a word with a verb sense. 30 of its 466 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 100% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|
| 便 | biàn | 6 | 641 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 6.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 466 | 73% |
| the same words doing something else | 175 | 27% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Genesis | 53 |
| Psalms | 48 |
| Acts | 30 |
| Exodus | 21 |
| Luke | 21 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 就 | jiù | 1 | 5,798 | the modern adverb doing the same work |
The candidates are chosen by hand; the counts are measured, and a candidate the corpus cannot illustrate with a real verse is left out. No claim is made that they are interchangeable.
Counted
The rule: 便 immediately before a word with a verb sense.
30 of 466 matches were drawn at random and read in context; 100% 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 6 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
- Is there any difference in meaning from 就?
- Not in this translation. The difference is register — 便 is the more literary of the two — and a reader can treat them as one word with two spellings.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 466 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 641 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Genesis, with 53 — followed by Psalms (48), Acts (30), Exodus (21).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 便 immediately before a word with a verb sense. 30 of its 466 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 100% 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.