# 把 Fronts the Object in 1,632 Bible Clauses

> The 把 disposal construction — subject, 把, object, verb — occurs in 1,632 clauses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), foregrounding what is done to the object.

**Pattern:** subject + 把 + object + verb + result
**HSK level:** 3 — 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'
**Rule used to find it:** 把 read bǎ, then one to five words, then a word with a verb sense — the object standing before what is done to it.
**Confidence:** counted — 30 of 1,632 matches checked, 97% correct, by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker

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.

## Examples

- **Genesis 24:57** — 他们说：「我们把女子叫来问问她」，
  - tā men shuō ：「 wǒ men bǎ nǚ zǐ jiào lái wèn wèn tā 」，
  - They said, “We will call the young lady, and ask her.”
  - construction: 把女子叫
- **Revelation 1:19** — 所以你要把所看见的，和现在的事，并将来必成的事，都写出来。
  - suǒ yǐ nǐ yào bǎ suǒ kàn jiàn de ， hé xiàn zài de shì ， bìng jiāng lái bì chéng de shì ， dōu xiě chū lái 。
  - Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter.
  - construction: 把所看见
- **Matthew 26:15** — 说：「我把他交给你们，你们愿意给我多少钱？」他们就给了他三十块钱。
  - shuō ：「 wǒ bǎ tā jiāo gěi nǐ men ， nǐ men yuàn yì gěi wǒ duō shǎo qián ？」 tā men jiù gěi le tā sān shí kuài 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.
  - construction: 把他交给
- **2 Thessalonians 2:5** — 我还在你们那里的时候，曾把这些事告诉你们，你们不记得吗？
  - wǒ hái zài nǐ men nà li de shí hou ， céng bǎ zhè xiē shì gào sù nǐ men ， nǐ men bú jì de ma ？
  - Don’t you remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?
  - construction: 把这些事告诉
- **Acts 16:32** — 他们就把主的道讲给他和他全家的人听。
  - tā men jiù bǎ zhǔ de dào jiǎng gěi tā hé tā quán jiā de rén tīng 。
  - They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.
  - construction: 把主的道讲
- **Mark 2:21** — 没有人把新布缝在旧衣服上，恐怕所补上的新布带坏了旧衣服，破的就更大了。
  - méi yǒu rén bǎ xīn bù fèng zài jiù yī fu shàng ， kǒng pà suǒ bǔ shàng de xīn bù dài huài le jiù yī fu ， pò de jiù gèng dà 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.
  - construction: 把新布

## The words this point is built on

| 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.

## What those occurrences are doing

|  | Occurrences | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| the construction | 1,632 | 90% |
| the same words doing something else | 184 | 10% |

## Where it occurs most

| 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.

## 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.

Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/grammar/ba-disposal

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