The Bible in Basic English BBE
Orthodox Jewish Bible OJB
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
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In the beginning Elohim created hashomayim (the heavens, Himel) and haaretz (the earth).
2 And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters.
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And the earth was tohu vavohu (without form, and void); and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Ruach Elohim was hovering upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
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And Elohim said, Let there be light: and there was light [Tehillim 33:6,9].
4 And God, looking on the light, saw that it was good: and God made a division between the light and the dark,
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And Elohim saw the light, that it was tov (good); and Elohim divided the ohr (light) from the choshech (darkness).
5 Naming the light, Day, and the dark, Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
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And Elohim called the light Yom (Day), and the darkness He called Lailah (Night). And the erev (evening) and the boker (morning) were Yom Echad (Day One, the First Day, Mk 16:2).
6 And God said, Let there be a solid arch stretching over the waters, parting the waters from the waters.
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And Elohim said, Let there be a raki’a (expanse, dome, firmament) in the midst of the mayim (waters), and let it divide the mayim from the mayim.
7 And God made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it: and it was so.
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And Elohim made the raki’a, and divided the waters under the raki’a from the waters which were above the raki’a; and it was so.
8 And God gave the arch the name of Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
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And Elohim called the raki’a Shomayim (Heaven). And the erev and the boker were Yom Sheni (Day Two, the Second Day).
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven come together in one place, and let the dry land be seen: and it was so.
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And Elohim said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the yabashah (dry land) appear; and it was so.
10 And God gave the dry land the name of Earth; and the waters together in their place were named Seas: and God saw that it was good.
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And Elohim called the yabashah Eretz (Earth); and the mikveh (gathering together of the waters) called He Seas; and Elohim saw that it was tov.
11 And God said, Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit-trees giving fruit, in which is their seed, after their sort: and it was so.
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And Elohim said, Let the earth bring forth vegetation, the herb yielding zera (seed), and the fruit tree yielding pri (fruit) after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so.
12 And grass came up on the earth, and every plant producing seed of its sort, and every tree producing fruit, in which is its seed, of its sort: and God saw that it was good.
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And the earth brought forth vegetation, and herb yielding zera (seed) after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind; and Elohim saw that it was tov (good).
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
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And the erev and the boker were Yom Shlishi (Day Three, the Third Day).
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the arch of heaven, for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years:
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And Elohim said, Let there be lights in the raki’a of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for otot (signs), and for mo’adim (seasons), and for yamim (days), and shanim (years);
15 And let them be for lights in the arch of heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so.
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And let them be for lights in the raki’a of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so.
16 And God made the two great lights: the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night: and he made the stars.
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And Elohim made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He made the kokhavim (stars) also.
17 And God put them in the arch of heaven, to give light on the earth;
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And Elohim set them in the raki’a of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 To have rule over the day and the night, and for a division between the light and the dark: and God saw that it was good.
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And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and Elohim saw that it was tov.
19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
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And the erev and the boker were Yom Revi’i (Day Four, the Fourth Day).
20 And God said, Let the waters be full of living things, and let birds be in flight over the earth under the arch of heaven.
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And Elohim said, Let the waters bring forth an abundance of living creatures, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open raki’a of heaven.
21 And God made great sea-beasts, and every sort of living and moving thing with which the waters were full, and every sort of winged bird: and God saw that it was good.
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And Elohim created great sea creatures, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth in abundance, after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and Elohim saw that it was tov.
22 And God gave them his blessing, saying, Be fertile and have increase, making all the waters of the seas full, and let the birds be increased in the earth.
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And Elohim blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
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And the erev and the boker were Yom Chamishi (Day Five, the Fifth Day).
24 And God said, Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort: and it was so.
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And G-d said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind; and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after its sort, and the cattle after their sort, and everything moving on the face of the earth after its sort: and God saw that it was good.
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And G-d made the beast of the earth after its kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind; and G-d saw that it was tov.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.
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And G-d said, Let Us make man in Our tzelem, after Our demut: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon ha’aretz (the earth).
27 And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.
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So G-d created humankind in His own tzelem, in the tzelem Elohim (image of G-d) created He him; zachar (male) and nekevah (female) created He them.
28 And God gave them his blessing and said to them, Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth.
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And G-d blessed them, and G-d said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, See, I have given you every plant producing seed, on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed: they will be for your food:
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And G-d said, Hinei, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of kol ha’aretz (all the earth), and every etz (tree), in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food.
30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food: and it was so.
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And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food; and it was so.
31 And God saw everything which he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
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And G-d saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was tov me’od (very good). And the erev and the boker were Yom Shishi (Day Six, the Sixth Day).
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.