将 Fronts the Object in 2,166 Bible Clauses
Answering: “why does the Chinese Bible use jiang”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
将 does the same work as 把 — object in front of the verb, foregrounding what is done to it — in a literary register. This corpus prefers it.
- HSK level
- 5
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 2,166
- clauses
- Meet it first in
- Jeremiah
- 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 5, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
我wǒ将jiāng真理zhēn lǐ告诉gào sù你们nǐ men，你们nǐ men就jiù因此yīn cǐ不bú信xìn我wǒ。
But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.
John 8:45 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
你nǐ曾céng用yòng能力néng lì将jiāng海hǎi分开fēn kāi， 将jiāng水shuǐ中zhōng大dà鱼yú的de头tóu打破dǎ pò。
You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
Psalms 74:13 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
回到huí dào家里jiā lǐ，关上guān shàng门mén，你nǐ和hé你nǐ儿子ér zi在zài里面lǐ miàn将jiāng油yóu倒dào在zài所有suǒ yǒu的de器皿qì mǐn里lǐ，倒dào满mǎn了le的de放fàng在zài一边yì biān。」
Go in and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour oil into all those containers; and set aside those which are full.”
2 Kings 4:4 · 96% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
你nǐ先前xiān qián摔shuāi碎suì的de那nà版bǎn，其qí上shàng的de字zì我wǒ要yào写xiě在zài这zhè版bǎn上shàng；你nǐ要yào将jiāng这zhè版bǎn放fàng在zài柜guì中zhōng。』
I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.”
Deuteronomy 10:2 · 96% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他tā对duì我wǒ说shuō：将jiāng这zhè默示mò shì明明míng míng地de写xiě在zài版bǎn上shàng， 使shǐ读dú的de人rén容易róng yì读dú 。
The LORD answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
Habakkuk 2:2 · 95% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
以利亚yǐ lì yà将jiāng孩子hái zi从cóng楼上lóu shàng抱bào下来xià lai，进jìn屋子wū zi交给jiāo gěi他tā母亲mǔ qīn，说shuō：「看kàn哪nǎ，你nǐ的de儿子ér zi活huó了le！」
Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “Behold, your son lives.”
1 Kings 17:23 · 95% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read John 8 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 5 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 5 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
将 does exactly what 把 does: it moves the object in front of the verb so the clause is about what is done to it. 将他交给我们, delivered him to us. The difference is register, not grammar — 将 is the literary form, and the 1919 translators reached for it first.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 将 2,588 times. 422 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
This is the single most useful thing on this page for a student. 把 is taught at HSK 3 and 将 at HSK 5, so by the ordinary order of study a reader meets the Bible's preferred construction two levels after the one it mostly does not use.
It is commonest in Jeremiah, with 172 of them, and 88% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 将 | jiāng | 5 | 2,557 |
| 将 | jiàng | 5 | 31 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 5.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 2,166 | 84% |
| the same words doing something else | 422 | 16% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Jeremiah | 172 |
| Ezekiel | 156 |
| Deuteronomy | 146 |
| Psalms | 130 |
| 1 Samuel | 111 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
Counted
The rule: 将 read jiāng, then one to five words, then a word with a verb sense — the same shape as 把, in a literary register.
30 of 2,166 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 5 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 将 here the same as 将 meaning about to?
- Same character, different job. 将要 — about to — is an adverb of time before the verb; this 将 takes a noun after it and hands it to the verb. The pinyin is the same, so only the shape of the clause tells them apart.
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- 2,166 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 2,588 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Jeremiah, with 172 — followed by Ezekiel (156), Deuteronomy (146), Psalms (130).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 将 read jiāng, then one to five words, then a word with a verb sense — the same shape as 把, in a literary register. 30 of its 2,166 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.