# 便 Before the Verb in 466 Bible Clauses

> 便 stands before the verb in 466 clauses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), doing the work an HSK 1 course assigns to 就.

**Pattern:** clause, subject + 便 + verb
**HSK level:** 6 — 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:** 便 immediately before a word with a verb sense.
**Confidence:** counted — 30 of 466 matches checked, 100% correct, by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker

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.

## Examples

- **Luke 24:42** — 他们便给他一片烧鱼。
  - tā men biàn gěi tā yí piàn shāo yú 。
  - They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.
  - construction: 便给
- **Psalms 104:28** — 你给它们，它们便拾起来； 你张手，它们饱得美食。
  - nǐ gěi tā men ， tā men biàn shí qǐ lái ；  nǐ zhāng shǒu ， tā men bǎo dé měi shí 。
  - You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good.
  - construction: 便拾
- **Job 33:33** — 若不然，你就听我说； 你不要作声，我便将智慧教训你。
  - ruò bù rán ， nǐ jiù tīng wǒ shuō ；  nǐ bú yào zuò shēng ， wǒ biàn jiāng zhì huì jiào xun nǐ 。
  - If not, listen to me. Hold your peace, and I will teach you wisdom.”
  - construction: 便将
- **Genesis 42:20** — 把你们的小兄弟带到我这里来，如此，你们的话便有证据，你们也不至于死。」他们就照样而行。
  - bǎ nǐ men de xiǎo xiōng dì dài dào wǒ zhè lǐ lái ， rú cǐ ， nǐ men de huà biàn yǒu zhèng jù ， nǐ men yě bú zhì yú sǐ 。」 tā men jiù zhào yàng ér xíng 。
  - Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won’t die.” They did so.
  - construction: 便有
- **John 4:53** — 他便知道这正是耶稣对他说「你儿子活了」的时候；他自己和全家就都信了。
  - tā biàn zhī dào zhè zhèng shì yē sū duì tā shuō 「 nǐ ér zi huó le 」 de shí hou ； tā zì jǐ hé quán jiā jiù dōu xìn 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.
  - construction: 便知道
- **1 Samuel 14:10** — 他们若说：『你们上到我们这里来』，这话就是我们的证据；我们便上去，因为耶和华将他们交在我们手里了。」
  - tā men ruò shuō ：『 nǐ men shàng dào wǒ men zhè lǐ lái 』， zhè huà jiù shì wǒ men de zhèng jù ； wǒ men biàn shàng qù ， yīn wèi yē hé huá jiāng tā men jiāo zài wǒ men shǒu lǐ 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.”
  - construction: 便上去

## The words this point is built on

| 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.

## What those occurrences are doing

|  | Occurrences | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| the construction | 466 | 73% |
| the same words doing something else | 175 | 27% |

## Where it occurs most

| 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.

## Words the 和合本 uses in the same slot

| 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.

## 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.

Page: https://chinese-bible.com/en/grammar/bian-then

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