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Note: This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public. Some things (like capitalisation of ‘him’ referring to Jesus or ‘father’ referring to God) in the RV haven’t been decided yet so we’re still testing both ways.
Note: The Readers’ Version on the left is a translation into contemporary English aimed at the person on the street who hasn’t necessarily been brought up with exposure to Biblical jargon and/or 500-year old English. It’s designed to be used alongside the Literal Version on the right which gives the English reader a window into what’s actually written in the original languages. (See the introduction for more details—we recommend that you read the introduction first if you’re wanting to fully understand the Literal Version.) By comparing the left and right columns, you should be able to easily get the message of the text, while at the same time keeping an eye on what it was actually translated from.
Note that greyed words in the RV are words that the translators consider were most probably in the mind of the writer, but as none of us can double-check with the original speakers or writers, the reader is free to disagree. They are clearly marked because we’ve tried to be as honest and transparent as possible.
The lighter coloured words in the LV are words which aren’t needed in the grammar of the original languages but are required or implied in English. You can read the Key to learn more about them. The underlines joining words in the LV show when one original language word needs to be translated into two or more English words. (Just hide them with the button if you don’t need that information and find it distracting.) Also, the majority of sentences in the LV don’t have the words put into a sensible English order yet. (This should be completed by the end of 2023.)
Songs
This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.
It is our prayer that the Open English Translation of the Bible will give you a clear understanding of the accounts and messages written by the God-inspired Biblical writers.
Introduction
This collection of Songs includes songs, poems, chants, and prayers that the Hebrews used in their meditation and worship, and then those eventually got added to this collection. We have chosen not to use the name ‘Psalms’ which comes from the Greek word ‘ψαλμός’ which means ‘a song sung to the harp’, because most English readers don’t even know that meaning. The title ‘Songs’ isn’t perhaps ideal, but does at least suggest that they were sung, read, or chanted with music.
There are many classes of the songs for believers in God: there are songs of praising and worshipping God, there are prayers requesting help or rescue from situations, requesting forgiveness, songs thanking or blessing God, and requests to curse their enemies. These prayers are sometimes personal and sometimes on behalf of the entire nation.
Seven of these songs/poems are acrostic poems, i.e., the first verse starts with the first Hebrew letter (alef) and the second with the second Hebrew letter (beyt), etc. We have chosen to display those Hebrew letters to help the English reader understand that there is that acrostic background to the poem. The seven songs are Song 25, Song 34, Song 37, Song 111, Song 112, the longest Song 119, and Song 145.
Yeshua (Jesus) and other contributors to The Messianic Update (The New Testament) used these songs and valued this collection for use in church worship since the beginning.
The one hundred and fifty songs are divided into five sub-collections.
Main components of this collection
Songs 1–41
Songs 42–72
Songs 73–89
Songs 90–106
Songs 107–150
There are a hundred and fifty songs, poems, and prayers in this collection that were used by the Hebrews in their worship. Many seem to have been written in the time of King David and others around the time of the end of David’s kingdom. These songs and prayers are still important today for use by Jewish believers in their worship. These songs reveal the inner emotions of the author like anger and sorrow, happiness and trusting, and hope.
This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.
Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5 Item 6 Item 7 Item 8 Item 9 Item 10 Item 11 Item 12 Item 13 Item 14 Item 15 Item 16 Item 17 Item 18 Item 19 Item 20 Item 21 Item 22 Item 23 Item 24 Item 25 Item 26 Item 27 Item 28 Item 29 Item 30 Item 31 Item 32 Item 33 Item 34 Item 35 Item 36 Item 37 Item 38 Item 39 Item 40 Item 41
Item 42 Item 43 Item 44 Item 45 Item 46 Item 47 Item 48 Item 49 Item 50 Item 51 Item 52 Item 53 Item 54 Item 55 Item 56 Item 57 Item 58 Item 59 Item 60 Item 61 Item 62 Item 63 Item 64 Item 65 Item 66 Item 67 Item 68 Item 69 Item 70 Item 71 Item 72
Item 73 Item 74 Item 75 Item 76 Item 77 Item 78 Item 79 Item 80 Item 81 Item 82 Item 83 Item 84 Item 85 Item 86 Item 87 Item 88 Item 89
Item 90 Item 91 Item 92 Item 93 Item 94 Item 95 Item 96 Item 97 Item 98 Item 99 Item 100 Item 101 Item 102 Item 103 Item 104 Item 105 Item 106
Item 107 Item 108 Item 109 Item 110 Item 111 Item 112 Item 113 Item 114 Item 115 Item 116 Item 117 Item 118 Item 119 Item 120 Item 121 Item 122 Item 123 Item 124 Item 125 Item 126 Item 127 Item 128 Item 129 Item 130 Item 131 Item 132 Item 133 Item 134 Item 135 Item 136 Item 137 Item 138 Item 139 Item 140 Item 141 Item 142 Item 143 Item 144 Item 145 Item 146 Item 147 Item 148 Item 149 Item 150
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