# 被 Marks the Passive in 1,397 Bible Clauses

> 被 marks the subject as the one acted upon in 1,397 clauses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), with the agent optional.

**Pattern:** subject + 被 (+ agent) + verb
**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:** 被 read bèi, then a word with a verb sense within three words — the action the subject undergoes.
**Confidence:** counted — 30 of 1,397 matches checked, 100% correct, by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker

被 makes a passive: 被杀, was killed; 被掳, was carried away captive. The agent can be named — 被以色列人打败, defeated by the Israelites — or left out entirely, which is what this translation usually does. In modern Chinese 被 carries a faint sense of misfortune; in the prophets that fits the material almost too well.

The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 被 1,657 times. 260 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.

It is not the only passive here. 受 — to receive, to suffer — does the same work lexically, and the classical 为…所… frame appears in the letters. The alternatives below are counted so the comparison is a measurement rather than an impression.

It is commonest in Isaiah, with 153 of them, and 72% 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

- **Matthew 10:30** — 就是你们的头发也都被数过了。
  - jiù shì nǐ men de tóu fa yě dōu bèi shǔ guò le 。
  - But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
  - construction: 被数过
- **Luke 24:51** — 正祝福的时候，他就离开他们，被带到天上去了。
  - zhèng zhù fú de shí hou ， tā jiù lí kāi tā men ， bèi dài dào tiān shàng qù le 。
  - While he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.
  - construction: 被带到
- **Numbers 4:36** — 被数的共有二千七百五十名。
  - bèi shǔ de gòng yǒu èr qiān qī bǎi wǔ shí míng 。
  - Those who were counted of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty.
  - construction: 被数的共有
- **Acts 10:29** — 所以我被请的时候，就不推辞而来。现在请问：你们叫我来有什么意思呢？」
  - suǒ yǐ wǒ bèi qǐng de shí hou ， jiù bù tuī cí ér lái 。 xiàn zài qǐng wèn ： nǐ men jiào wǒ lái yǒu shén me yì si ne ？」
  - Therefore I also came without complaint when I was sent for. I ask therefore, why did you send for me?”
  - construction: 被请
- **Genesis 5:2** — 并且造男造女。在他们被造的日子， 神赐福给他们，称他们为「人」。）
  - bìng qiě zào nán zào nǚ 。 zài tā men bèi zào de rì zi ，  shén cì fú gěi tā men ， chēng tā men wéi 「 rén 」。）
  - He created them male and female, and blessed them. On the day they were created, he named them Adam.
  - construction: 被造
- **Ezekiel 27:34** — 你在深水中被海浪打破的时候， 你的货物和你中间的一切人民， 就都沉下去了。
  - nǐ zài shēn shuǐ zhōng bèi hǎi làng dǎ pò de shí hou ，  nǐ de huò wù hé nǐ zhōng jiān de yí qiè rén mín ，  jiù dōu chén xià qù le 。
  - In the time that you were broken by the seas, in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company fell within you.
  - construction: 被海浪打破

## The words this point is built on

| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 被 | bèi | 3 | 1,657 |

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 | 1,397 | 84% |
| the same words doing something else | 260 | 16% |

## Where it occurs most

| Book | Clauses |
| --- | --- |
| Isaiah | 153 |
| Jeremiah | 127 |
| Ezekiel | 108 |
| Psalms | 95 |
| Luke | 52 |

Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.

## Words the 和合本 uses in the same slot

| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 为 | wèi | 2 | 3,830 | in 为…所…, the classical passive frame |
| 受 | shòu | 3 | 631 | 'to receive, to suffer', a lexical passive |
| 遭 | zāo | not graded | 93 | 'to meet with', for misfortune |

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.

## Questions

**Does a Chinese passive need an agent?**

No. 被 plus the verb is complete on its own, and that is how most of these clauses are built — the thing that was done matters, who did it often does not.

**How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?**

1,397 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 1,657 occurrences of the words that mark it.

**Which book of the Bible uses it most?**

Isaiah, with 153 — followed by Jeremiah (127), Ezekiel (108), Psalms (95).

**How do you know the count is right?**

The rule is: 被 read bèi, then a word with a verb sense within three words — the action the subject undergoes. 30 of its 1,397 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.

Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/grammar/bei-passive

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