# 者 Names the Doer in 252 Bible Phrases

> 者 turns a description into the person or thing it describes in 252 clauses of the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) — 全能者, the Almighty.

**Pattern:** verb or phrase + 者
**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:** 者 with a word before it inside the clause — the description it turns into a person or thing.
**Confidence:** counted — 30 of 252 matches checked, 100% correct, by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker

者 is the classical suffix for the one who: 信者, the believer; 受膏者, the anointed one; 至高者, the Most High. Modern Chinese does this with 的人 and keeps 者 for formal compounds, so a reader who has only met 的人 will not recognise some of the most important titles in the book.

The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 者 252 times. 0 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.

That is what makes this a high-value page rather than a curiosity. 全能者 and 受膏者 are not incidental vocabulary — they are how the text names God and the Messiah, and both are built out of this one particle.

It is commonest in Psalms, with 42 of them, and 77% 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

- **John 5:30** — 「我凭着自己不能做什么，我怎么听见就怎么审判。我的审判也是公平的；因为我不求自己的意思，只求那差我来者的意思。」
  - 「 wǒ píng zhe zì jǐ bù néng zuò shén me ， wǒ zěn me tīng jiàn jiù zěn me shěn pàn 。 wǒ de shěn pàn yě shì gōng píng de ； yīn wèi wǒ bù qiú zì jǐ de yì si ， zhī qiú nà chāi wǒ lái zhě de yì si 。」
  - I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is righteous, because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.
  - construction: 者
- **Job 22:17** — 他们向 神说：离开我们吧！ 又说：全能者能把我们怎么样呢？
  - tā men xiàng   shén shuō ： lí kāi wǒ men ba ！  yòu shuō ： quán néng zhě néng bǎ wǒ men zěn me yàng ne ？
  - who said to God, ‘Depart from us!’ and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’
  - construction: 者
- **Ephesians 1:23** — 教会是他的身体，是那充满万有者所充满的。
  - jiào huì shì tā de shēn tǐ ， shì nà chōng mǎn wàn yǒu zhě suǒ chōng mǎn de 。
  - which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
  - construction: 者
- **Judges 14:14** — 参孙对他们说： 吃的从吃者出来； 甜的从强者出来。 他们三日不能猜出谜语的意思。
  - cān sūn duì tā men shuō ：  chī de cóng chī zhě chū lái ；  tián de cóng qiáng zhě chū lái 。  tā men sān rì bù néng cāi chū mí yǔ de yì si 。
  - He said to them, “Out of the eater came out food. Out of the strong came out sweetness.” They couldn’t in three days declare the riddle.
  - construction: 者
- **Acts 22:14** — 他又说：『我们祖宗的 神拣选了你，叫你明白他的旨意，又得见那义者，听他口中所出的声音。
  - tā yòu shuō ：『 wǒ men zǔ zōng de   shén jiǎn xuǎn le nǐ ， jiào nǐ míng bai tā de zhǐ yì ， yòu dé jiàn nà yì zhě ， tīng tā kǒu zhōng suǒ chū de shēng yīn 。
  - He said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.
  - construction: 者
- **Luke 1:76** — 孩子啊！你要称为至高者的先知； 因为你要行在主的前面， 预备他的道路，
  - hái zi a ！ nǐ yào chēng wéi zhì gāo zhě de xiān zhī ；  yīn wèi nǐ yào xíng zài zhǔ de qián miàn ，  yù bèi tā de dào lù ，
  - And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,
  - construction: 者

## The words this point is built on

| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 者 | zhě | 3 | 252 |

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 | 252 | 100% |
| the same words doing something else | 0 | 0% |

## Where it occurs most

| Book | Clauses |
| --- | --- |
| Psalms | 42 |
| Job | 37 |
| Isaiah | 20 |
| Daniel | 19 |
| 1 Samuel | 13 |

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

## Questions

**Is 者 still used today?**

In writing, constantly — 读者 reader, 作者 author, 记者 reporter. What has gone is its free use after any verb phrase, which is exactly what this translation does with it.

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

252 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 252 occurrences of the words that mark it.

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

Psalms, with 42 — followed by Job (37), Isaiah (20), Daniel (19).

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

The rule is: 者 with a word before it inside the clause — the description it turns into a person or thing. 30 of its 252 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/zhe-nominaliser

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