The Bible in Basic English BBE
Orthodox Jewish Bible OJB
1 Give comfort, give comfort, to my people, says your God.
1
0 Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith Eloheichem.
2 Say kind words to the heart of Jerusalem, crying out to her that her time of trouble is ended, that her punishment is complete; that she has been rewarded by the Lord's hand twice over for all her sins.
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Speak ye to the lev Yerushalayim, and preach unto her, that her tzeva’a (time of hard service, warfare) is ended, that her avon (iniquity) is nirtzah (punitively paid for, pardoned); for she hath received of the Yad Hashem kiflayim (double) in payment for all her chattot.
3 A voice of one crying, Make ready in the waste land the way of the Lord, make level in the lowland a highway for our God.
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The voice of him that preacheth in the midbar, Prepare ye the Derech Hashem, make straight in the Aravah a highway for Eloheinu.
4 Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low, and let the rough places become level, and the hilltops become a valley,
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Every gey (valley) shall be raised up, and every har and givah (hill) shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places bikah (plain, valley);
5 And the glory of the Lord will be made clear, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has said it.
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And the kavod Hashem shall be revealed, and all basar shall see it together; for the mouth of Hashem hath spoken.
6 A voice of one saying, Give a cry! And I said, What is my cry to be? All flesh is grass, and all its strength like the flower of the field.
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The voice said, Preach. And he said, What shall I preach? All basar is khatzir (grass), and all the chesed (constancy) thereof is as the tzitz (flower, blossom) of the sadeh;
7 The grass becomes dry, the flower is dead; because the breath of the Lord goes over it: truly the people is grass.
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The khatzir (grass) withereth, the tzitz (flower, blossom) falleth; because the Ruach of Hashem bloweth upon it; surely the people is khatzir (grass).
8 The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal.
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The khatzir withereth, the tzitz falleth; but the Devar Eloheinu shall stand forever.
9 You who give good news to Zion, get up into the high mountain; you who give good news to Jerusalem, let your voice be strong; let it be sounding without fear; say to the towns of Judah, See, your God!
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O Mevaseret Tziyon (O Herald, Preacher of Besorah [Good News, Gospel] Tziyon, O Lady Evangelist Tziyon), get thee up into the har gavo’ah (high mountain); O Mevaseret Yerushalayim (O Herald, Preacher of Besorah [Good News, Gospel] Yerushalayim, O Lady Evangelist Yerushalayim), lift up thy voice with ko’ach; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the towns of Yehudah, Hinei Eloheichem!
10 See, the Lord God will come as a strong one, ruling in power: see, those made free by him are with him, and those whom he has made safe go before him.
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Hinei, Adonoi Hashem will come with chazak, and His zero’a [Moshiach, see Isaiah 53:1] shall rule for Him; hinei, His sachar (reward) is with Him, and His pe’ullah (work, recompense, retribution, penal reward [for His enemies]) before Him.
11 He will give food to his flock like a keeper of sheep; with his arm he will get it together, and will take up the lambs on his breast, gently guiding those which are with young.
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He shall feed His Eder like a Ro’eh; He shall gather the tela’im (lambs) with His zero’a, and carry them in His kheyk, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12 In the hollow of whose hand have the waters been measured? and who is able to take the heavens in his stretched-out fingers? who has got together the dust of the earth in a measure? who has taken the weight of the mountains, or put the hills into the scales?
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Who hath measured the mayim in the hollow of His Hand, and meted out Shomayim with a handbreadth, and enclosed the aphar ha’aretz in a measure, and weighed the harim (mountains) in scales, and the geva’ot (hills) in a balance? [See Prov 30:4.]
13 By whom has the spirit of the Lord been guided, or who has been his teacher?
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Who hath directed the Ruach of Hashem, or being His ish etzah (counselor) hath taught Him?
14 Who gave him suggestions, and made clear to him the right way? who gave him knowledge, guiding him in the way of wisdom?
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With whom did He take counsel, and who gave Him binah, and taught Him in the orakh mishpat, and taught Him da’as, and showed Him the derech tevunot (way of understanding, intelligence)?
15 See, the nations are to him like a drop hanging from a bucket, and like the small dust in the scales: he takes up the islands like small dust.
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Surely the Goyim are like a drop in a bucket, and are accounted as dust of the scales; surely He taketh up the iyim (islands) like fine dust.
16 And Lebanon is not enough to make a fire with, or all its cattle enough for a burned offering.
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Levanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for an olah.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him; even less than nothing, a thing of no value.
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Kol HaGoyim before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and tohu.
18 Whom then is God like, in your opinion? or what will you put forward as a comparison with him?
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To whom then will ye liken El? Or what demut (likeness) will ye compare unto Him?
19 The workman makes an image, and the gold-worker puts gold plates over it, and makes silver bands for it.
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The charash (workman, craftsman) melteth a pesel (idol, image), and the goldsmith overlayeth it with zahav, and casteth for it chains of kesef.
20 The wise workman makes selection of the mulberry-tree of the offering, a wood which will not become soft; so that the image may be fixed to it and not be moved.
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He that is so impoverished that He hath no terumah chooseth an etz that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a charash chacham (skilled craftsman) to prepare a pesel, that shall not topple.
21 Have you no knowledge of it? has it not come to your ears? has not news of it been given to you from the first? has it not been clear to you from the time when the earth was placed on its base?
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Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the mosedot ha’aretz (foundations of the earth)?
22 It is he who is seated over the arch of the earth, and the people in it are as small as locusts; by him the heavens are stretched out like an arch, and made ready like a tent for a living-place.
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It is He that sitteth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are like chagavim (grasshoppers); that stretcheth out Shomayim like a curtain, and spreadeth them out like an ohel to dwell in;
23 He makes rulers come to nothing; the judges of the earth are of no value.
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That bringeth the roznim (rulers) to nothing; He maketh the Shoftei Eretz like tohu.
24 They have only now been planted, and their seed put into the earth, and they have only now taken root, when he sends out his breath over them and they become dry, and the storm-wind takes them away like dry grass.
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Indeed, they shall not be planted; indeed, they shall not be sown; indeed, their stem shall not take root ba’aretz (in the ground); and He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the se’arah (storm wind) shall take them away like the kash (straw, stubble, chaff).
25 Who then seems to you to be my equal? says the Holy One.
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To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Kadosh.
26 Let your eyes be lifted up on high, and see: who has made these? He who sends out their numbered army: who has knowledge of all their names: by whose great strength, because he is strong in power, all of them are in their places.
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Lift up your eyes marom (on high, i.e,. into the heavens), and behold. Who hath created [T.N. This chp needs to be seen also in light of Ac chp 2 and Jerusalem’s Besurah HaGeulah proclaimed there.] these things, that bringeth out their tzeva’a (host, legions) by mispar (number); He calleth them all b’shem (by name) because of the abundance of His power and the might of His ko’ach; not one [star] is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, such words as these, O Israel, The Lord's eyes are not on my way, and my God gives no attention to my cause?
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Why sayest thou, O Ya’akov, and speakest, O Yisroel, My derech is hid from Hashem, and my mishpat is passed over and disregarded by Elohai?
28 Have you no knowledge of it? has it not come to your ears? The eternal God, the Lord, the Maker of the ends of the earth, is never feeble or tired; there is no searching out of his wisdom.
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Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the Elohei Olam, Hashem, Boreh Ketzot HaAretz (Creator of the ends of the earth), fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His tevunah (understanding, intelligence).
29 He gives power to the feeble, increasing the strength of him who has no force.
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He giveth ko’ach to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth power.
30 Even the young men will become feeble and tired, and the best of them will come to the end of his strength;
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Even the ne’arim (youths) shall faint and grow weary, and the bochurim shall utterly fall;
31 But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness.
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But they that wait upon Hashem shall renew their ko’ach; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not grow weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
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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.