# 无论 … 都 in 83 Bible Clauses

> The 无论 … 都 frame — whatever the case, the result is the same — occurs in 83 clauses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified).

**Pattern:** 无论 + question word + 都 / 也 + verb
**HSK level:** 4 — 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:** 无论, with 都 or 也 later in the same clause or in the next one.
**Confidence:** counted — 30 of 83 matches checked, 100% correct, by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker

无论 opens a clause containing an open question word — whoever, whatever, wherever — and 都 or 也 closes it: 无论大小,都生痔疮, both small and great, they broke out in sores. The pair is what makes it work, and the second half is easy to miss because the comma between them is doing nothing grammatical.

The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 无论 250 times. 167 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.

It is a legal and liturgical pattern, so it clusters where the law codes and the census lists are. 无论是人是牲畜 — whether man or beast — appears verbatim several times in Exodus and Leviticus.

It is commonest in Exodus, with 8 of them, and 75% 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

- **Colossians 3:23** — 无论做什么，都要从心里做，像是给主做的，不是给人做的，
  - wú lùn zuò shén me ， dōu yào cóng xīn li zuò ， xiàng shì gěi zhǔ zuò de ， bú shì gěi rén zuò de ，
  - And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
  - construction: 无论做什么
- **1 Corinthians 10:31** — 所以，你们或吃或喝，无论做什么，都要为荣耀 神而行。
  - suǒ yǐ ， nǐ men huò chī huò hē ， wú lùn zuò shén me ， dōu yào wèi róng yào   shén ér xíng 。
  - Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
  - construction: 无论做什么
- **Exodus 34:19** — 凡头生的都是我的；一切牲畜头生的，无论是牛是羊，公的都是我的。
  - fán tóu shēng de dōu shì wǒ de ； yí qiè shēng chù tóu shēng de ， wú lùn shì niú shì yáng ， gōng de dōu shì wǒ de 。
  - “All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
  - construction: 无论是牛是羊
- **Judges 9:51** — 城中有一座坚固的楼；城里的众人，无论男女，都逃进楼去，关上门，上了楼顶。
  - chéng zhōng yǒu yí zuò jiān gù de lóu ； chéng lǐ de zhòng rén ， wú lùn nán nǚ ， dōu táo jìn lóu qù ， guān shàng mén ， shàng le lóu dǐng 。
  - But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women of the city fled there, and shut themselves in, and went up to the roof of the tower.
  - construction: 无论男女
- **Revelation 20:12** — 我又看见死了的人，无论大小，都站在宝座前。案卷展开了，并且另有一卷展开，就是生命册。死了的人都凭着这些案卷所记载的，照他们所行的受审判。
  - wǒ yòu kàn jiàn sǐ le de rén ， wú lùn dà xiǎo ， dōu zhàn zài bǎo zuò qián 。 àn juàn zhǎn kāi le ， bìng qiě lìng yǒu yí juàn zhǎn kāi ， jiù shì shēng mìng cè 。 sǐ le de rén dōu píng zhe zhè xiē àn juàn suǒ jì zǎi de ， zhào tā men suǒ xíng de shòu shěn pàn 。
  - I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
  - construction: 无论大小
- **Acts 8:10** — 无论大小都听从他，说：「这人就是那称为 神的大能者。」
  - wú lùn dà xiǎo dōu tīng cóng tā ， shuō ：「 zhè rén jiù shì nà chēng wéi   shén de dà néng zhě 。」
  - to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of God.”
  - construction: 无论大小都

## The words this point is built on

| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 无论 | wú lùn | 4 | 250 |

The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 4.

## What those occurrences are doing

|  | Occurrences | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| the construction | 83 | 33% |
| the same words doing something else | 167 | 67% |

## Where it occurs most

| Book | Clauses |
| --- | --- |
| Exodus | 8 |
| 1 Samuel | 6 |
| Deuteronomy | 6 |
| 2 Chronicles | 5 |
| 2 Kings | 5 |

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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 凡 | fán | 7 | 767 | 'everyone who, whatever', heading the clause |
| 不论 | bú lùn | 3 | 7 | the same frame with a different first word |

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 the second half have to be 都?**

都 or 也. Both close the frame; 也 is commoner when the clause is negative, as in 无论谁也不能.

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

83 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 250 occurrences of the words that mark it.

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

Exodus, with 8 — followed by 1 Samuel (6), Deuteronomy (6), 2 Chronicles (5).

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

The rule is: 无论, with 都 or 也 later in the same clause or in the next one. 30 of its 83 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/wulun-whatever

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