Basic English Bible (Bible in Basic English /BBE) history
The Bible In Basic English (also known as BBE) is a translation of the Bible into Basic English. The BBE was translated by Professor S. H. Hooke using the standard 850 Basic English words. 100 words that were helpful to understand poetry were added along with 50 “Bible” words for a total of 1,000 words. This version is effective in communicating the Bible to those with limited education or where English is a second language. The New Testament was released in 1941 and the Old Testament was released in 1949. The Bible In Basic English was printed in 1965 by Cambridge Press in England. Published without any copyright notice and distributed in America, this work fell immediatly and irretrievably into the Public Domain in the United States according to the UCC convention of that time. A call to Cambridge prior to placing this work in etext resulted in an admission of this fact.
The Bible in Basic English strives to simplify the Bible so that more people worldwide can read and understand the text. By using the Basic English vocabulary, this goal is accomplished. Additionally due to the freeley available audio and versions, this version of the Bible is ideal for learning English as a second language in parallel with studying the Bible. For this purpose we provide the following podcasts on the major platforms:
Study the Audio Bible in Basic English in 1 year (about 15 minutes per day)
Psalm for the day (2-3 minutes per day)
The Basic English Bible Old Testament and New Testament can be consulted online via the links.