The Bible in Basic English BBE
Orthodox Jewish Bible OJB
1 Make a loud cry, do not be quiet, let your voice be sounding like a horn, and make clear to my people their evil doings, and to the family of Jacob their sins.
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8 Cry aloud, restrain not, lift up thy kol (voice) like the shofar, and preach to My people their peysha (transgression, rebellion) and Bais Ya’akov their chattot.
2 Though they make prayer to me every day, and take pleasure in the knowledge of my ways: like a nation which has done righteousness, and has not given up the rules of their God, they make requests to me for the right orders, it is their delight to come near to God.
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Yet they seek Me yom yom (daily), and for the da’as of My Drakhim they seem eager, like a Goy (Nation) that doeth tzedakah, like one that did not forsake mishpat Elohav; they ask of Me the mishpeteitzedek; they seem eager for kirvat Elohim (getting close to G-d, revival).
3 They say, Why have we kept ourselves from food, and you do not see it? why have we kept ourselves from pleasure, and you take no note of it? If, in the days when you keep from food, you take the chance to do your business, and get in your debts;
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Why have we done a tzom, say they, and Thou seest not? Why have we afflicted nafsheinu, and Thou takest no notice? See, in your yom tzom ye find chefetz (pleasure, personal advantage) and exploit all your toilers.
4 If keeping from food makes you quickly angry, ready for fighting and giving blows with evil hands; your holy days are not such as to make your voice come to my ears on high.
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See, ye undergo a tzom for grievance and strife, and to strike with the fist of resha; ye shall not do a tzom as ye do today, to make your voice to be heard on marom.
5 Have I given orders for such a day as this? a day for keeping yourselves from pleasure? is it only a question of the bent head, of putting on haircloth, and being seated in the dust? is this what seems to you a holy day, well-pleasing to the Lord?
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Is such as this a tzom that I have chosen? Merely for adam to afflict his nefesh? To bow down his rosh like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and efer (ashes) under him? Wilt thou call this a tzom, and a yom ratzon (a day of acceptance, an acceptable day) unto Hashem?
6 Is not this the holy day for which I have given orders: to let loose those who have wrongly been made prisoners, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the crushed go free, and every yoke be broken?
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Is not this the tzom that I have chosen? To loose the chartzubbot resha (chains of wickedness, injustice), to undo the aguddot motah (bindings of the yoke bar), and to let the retzutzim (oppressed ones) go as chafeshim (free ones), and that ye break kol motah (every yoke of oppression)?
7 Is it not to give your bread to those in need, and to let the poor who have no resting-place come into your house? to put a robe on the unclothed one when you see him, and not to keep your eyes shut for fear of seeing his flesh?
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Is it not paras lechem (breaking bread of thine, i.e., serving food) to the hungry, and that thou bring the homeless aniyyim (poor) to thy bais? When thou seest the arom (naked), that thou cover him with clothing; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own basar (flesh and blood, kinspeople)?
8 Then will light be shining on you like the morning, and your wounds will quickly be well: and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will come after you.
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Then shall thy light break forth like the shachar (dawn), and thine healing titzmach (shall spring forth; Tzemach) speedily; and thy tzedek shall go before thee; the kavod Hashem shall be thy rearguard.
9 Then at the sound of your voice, the Lord will give an answer; at your cry he will say, Here am I. If you take away from among you the yoke, the putting out of the finger of shame, and the evil word;
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Then shalt thou call, and Hashem shall answer; thou shalt cry for help, and He shall say, Hineni! If thou remove from the midst of thee the motah (yoke), the pointing of the etzba (finger [of contempt]) and speaking aven (evil, lashon hora);
10 And if you give your bread to those in need of it, so that the troubled one may have his desire; then you will have light in the dark, and your night will be as the full light of the sun:
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And if thou draw out thy nefesh to the hungry, and satisfy the nefesh of the afflicted, then shall thy ohr rise in choshech, and thy darkness shall be as the noon;
11 And the Lord will be your guide at all times; in dry places he will give you water in full measure, and will make strong your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like an ever-flowing spring.
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And Hashem shall guide thee tamid, and satisfy thy nefesh in drought, and strengthen thy atzmot; and thou shalt be like a gan raveh (well-watered garden), and like a motzah mayim (spring of water), whose mayim fail not.
12 And your sons will be building again the old waste places: you will make strong the bases of old generations: and you will be named, He who puts up the broken walls, and, He who makes ready the ways for use.
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And they that shall be of thee shall rebuild the charevot olam (ancient ruins); thou shalt raise up the mosedei dor vador (the foundations of many generations); and thou shalt be called, Goder Peretz; Meshovev Netivot Lashevet (Repairer of the Breach; Restorer of the Streets For Habitation).
13 If you keep the Sabbath with care, not doing your business on my holy day; and if the Sabbath seems to you a delight, and the new moon of the Lord a thing to be honoured; and if you give respect to him by not doing your business, or going after your pleasure, or saying unholy words;
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If thou turn away thy regel on account of Shabbos, from doing thy chefetz on My Yom Kodesh; and call Shabbos an Oneg (Delight), the Kedosh Hashem (Holy Day of Hashem), "honored"; and if thou shalt honor it, not doing thine darkhim nor finding thine own chefetz, nor speaking [worldly] words:
14 Then the Lord will be your delight; and I will put you on the high places of the earth; and I will give you the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has said it.
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Then shalt thou delight in Hashem; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of eretz, and feed thee with the nachalat Ya’akov Avicha; for the mouth of Hashem hath spoken.
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.