The Bible in Basic English BBE
Orthodox Jewish Bible OJB
1 Now Jacob was living in the land where his father had made a place for himself, in the land of Canaan.
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7 And Ya’akov dwelt in the eretz megurei Aviv (in the land wherein his father was a ger) in Eretz Canaan.
2 These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a boy seventeen years old, was looking after the flock, together with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph gave their father a bad account of them.
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These are the toldot Ya’akov. Yosef, being seventeen years old, was ro’eh with his achim to the tzon; now the na’ar was with the bnei Bilhah, and with the bnei Zilpah, the ne’shei Aviv (the wives of his father); and Yosef brought unto Avihem (their father) dibbatam ra’ah (a bad, evil report of them).
3 Now the love which Israel had for Joseph was greater than his love for all his other children, because he got him when he was an old man: and he had a long coat made for him.
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Now Yisroel loved Yosef more than all his children, because he was the ben zekunim (the son of his old age); and he made him a kesones passim (ketonet [tunic] reaching to palms and soles, [see Messianic significance Yn 19:23 OJBC]).
4 And because his brothers saw that Joseph was dearer to his father than all the others, they were full of hate for him, and would not say a kind word to him.
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And when his achim saw that Avihem loved him more than all his achim, they hated him, and could not speak with shalom unto him.
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he gave his brothers an account of it, which made their hate greater than ever.
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And Yosef dreamed a chalom (dream [see Mt 2:22 OJBC]), and he told it to his achim; and they hated him yet the more.
6 And he said to them, Let me give you the story of my dream.
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And he said unto them, Hear, now, this chalom which I have dreamed:
7 We were in the field, getting the grain stems together, and my grain kept upright, and yours came round and went down on the earth before mine.
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For, hinei, we were binding alummim (sheaves of wheat) out in the sadeh, and, hinei, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, hinei, your alummot (sheaves of wheat) gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.
8 And his brothers said to him, Are you to be our king? will you have authority over us? And because of his dream and his words, their hate for him became greater than ever.
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And his achim said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his chalomot (dreams), and for his devarim.
9 Then he had another dream, and gave his brothers an account of it, saying, I have had another dream: the sun and the moon and eleven stars gave honour to me.
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And he dreamed yet another chalom, and told it his achim, and said, Hinei, I have dreamed a chalom more; and, hinei, the shemesh and the yarei’ach and the eleven kokhavim bowed down to me.
10 And he gave word of it to his father and his brothers; but his father protesting said, What sort of a dream is this? am I and your mother and your brothers to go down on our faces to the earth before you?
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And he told it to Aviv, and to his achim: and Aviv rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this chalom that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and Immecha and Achecha indeed come to bow down ourselves to the ground before thee?
11 And his brothers were full of envy; but his father kept his words in mind.
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And his achim had kina (jealousy, envy) toward him; but Aviv was shomer over the saying.
12 Now his brothers went to keep watch over their father's flock in Shechem.
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And his achim went for the purpose to be ro’eh tzon Avihem in the vicinity of Shechem.
13 And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers with the flock in Shechem? come, I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I.
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And Yisroel said unto Yosef, Do not thy achim ro’im in Shechem? Come and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Hineni.
14 And he said to him, Go now, and see if your brothers are well and how the flock is; then come back and give me word. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
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And he said to him, Go, now, see about the shalom achecha, and the shalom hatzon; and bring me devar. So he sent him out of the Emek Chevron, and he went to Shechem.
15 And a man saw him wandering in the country, and said to him, What are you looking for?
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And a certain ish found him, and, hinei, he was wandering in the sadeh; and the ish asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
16 And he said, I am looking for my brothers; please give me word of where they are keeping their flock.
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And he said, I seek my achim; tell me, now, where they ro’im (feed their flocks).
17 And the man said, They have gone away from here, for they said in my hearing, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after them and came up with them at Dothan.
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And the ish said, They are departed from here; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dotan. And Yosef went after his achim, and found them in Dotan.
18 But they saw him when he was a long way off, and before he came near them they made a secret design against him to put him to death;
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And when they saw him merachok (afar off, in the distance), even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to kill him.
19 Saying to one another, See, here comes this dreamer.
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And they said one to another, Hinei, this ba’al hachalomot cometh.
20 Let us now put him to death and put his body into one of these holes, and we will say, An evil beast has put him to death: then we will see what becomes of his dreams.
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Come now therefore, and let us kill him, and throw him into one of the borot (pits), and we will say, Some chayyah ra’ah (evil wild beast) hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his chalomot.
21 But Reuben, hearing these words, got him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life.
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And Reuven heard it, and he saved him out of their yadayim; and said, Let us not take his nefesh.
22 Do not put him to a violent death, but let him be placed in one of the holes; this he said to keep him safe from their hands, with the purpose of taking him back to his father again.
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And Reuven said unto them, Do no shefach dahm (shedding of blood), but throw him into this bor that is in the midbar, and lay no yad upon him; that he might rescue him out of their yadayim, to take him back to Aviv.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took off his long coat which he had on;
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And it came to pass, when Yosef was come unto his achim, that they stripped Yosef of his kesones [see Yn 19:23 OJBC], his kesones hapassim that was on him;
24 And they took him and put him in the hole: now the hole had no water in it.
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And they took him, and threw him into the borah (pit); and the bor was empty, there was no mayim in it.
25 Then seating themselves, they took their meal: and looking up, they saw a travelling band of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt, with spices and perfumes on their camels.
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And they sat down to eat lechem; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, hinei, a caravan of Yishm’elim was coming from Gil‘ad with their gemalim bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Mitzrayim.
26 And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there in putting our brother to death and covering up his blood?
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And Yehudah said unto his achim, What betza (profit, gain) is it if we kill achinu (our brother), and conceal his dahm?
27 Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him.
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Come, and let us sell him to the Yishm’elim, and let not yadeinu (our hands) be upon him; for he is achinu (our brother) and besareinu (our flesh). And his achim agreed.
28 And some traders from Midian went by; so pulling Joseph up out of the hole, they gave him to the Ishmaelites for twenty bits of silver, and they took him to Egypt.
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Then there passed by anashim Midyanim socharim (men of Midyan, traders); and they drew and lifted up Yosef out of the bor, and sold Yosef to the Yishm’elim for esrim kesef; and they took Yosef to Mitzrayim.
29 Now when Reuben came back to the hole, Joseph was not there; and giving signs of grief,
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And Reuven returned unto the bor; and, hinei, Yosef was not in the bor; and he made the keriah of his clothes [compare Mk 14:63 OJBC].
30 He went back to his brothers, and said, The child is gone; what am I to do?
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And he returned unto his achim, and said, The yeled is not; and I, where shall I turn?
31 Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death,
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And they took the kesones Yosef, and did shachat the se’ir izzim (slaughtered the kid of the goats), and dipped the kesones in the dahm;
32 And they took the coat to their father, and said, We came across this; is it your son's coat or not?
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And they sent the kesones hapassim, and they brought it to Avihem; and said, This have we found; examine for identification purposes now whether it be the kesones Binecha or no.
33 And he saw that it was, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast has put him to death; without doubt Joseph has come to a cruel end.
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And he recognized it, and said, It is the kesones beni; a chayyah ra’ah hath devoured him; Yosef is without doubt torn in pieces.
34 Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day.
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And Ya’akov made the keriah of his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for beno yamim rabbim.
35 And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him.
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And all his banim and all his banot rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down to beni mourning to Sheol. Thus Aviv wept for him.
36 And in Egypt the men of Midian gave him for a price to Potiphar, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house.
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And the Midyanim sold him into Mitzrayim unto Potiphar, a seris Pharaoh (courtier of Pharaoh), a sar hatabbachim (a captain of the slaughterers, executioners, i.e., captain of the guard).
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The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.