Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Joshua 3 / Basic English

1. Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and, moving on from Shittim, he and all the children of Israel came to Jordan and were there for the night before going over.
2. And at the end of three days, the men in authority over the people went through the tents,
3. Giving the people their orders, and saying, When you see the ark of the agreement of the Lord your God lifted up by the priests, the Levites, then get up from your places and go after it;
4. But let there be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits: come no nearer to it, so that you may see the way you have to go, for you have not been over this way before.
5. And Joshua said to the people, Make yourselves holy, for tomorrow the Lord will do works of wonder among you.
6. Then Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the agreement and go over in front of the people. So they took up the ark of the agreement and went in front of the people.
7. And the Lord said to Joshua, From now on I will give you glory in the eyes of all Israel, so that they may see that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
8. And you are to give orders to the priests who take up the ark of the agreement, and say, When you come to the edge of the waters of Jordan, go no further.
9. And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come to me here: and give ear to the words of the Lord your God.
10. And Joshua said, By this you will see that the living God is among you, and that he will certainly send out from before you the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Hivite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Jebusite.
11. See, the ark of the agreement of the Lord of all the earth is going over before you into Jordan.
12. So take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, a man from every tribe.
13. And when the feet of the priests who take up the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of Jordan, the waters of Jordan will be cut off, all the waters flowing down from higher up, and will come together in a mass.
14. So when the people went out from their tents to go over Jordan, the priests who took up the ark of the agreement were in front of the people;
15. And when those who took up the ark came to Jordan, and the feet of the priests who took up the ark were touching the edge of the water (for the waters of Jordan are overflowing all through the time of the grain-cutting),
16. Then the waters flowing down from higher up were stopped and came together in a mass a long way back at Adam, a town near Zarethan; and the waters flowing down to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were cut off: and the people went across opposite Jericho.
17. And the priests who took up the ark of the agreement of the Lord kept their places, with their feet on dry land in the middle of Jordan, while all Israel went over on dry land, till all the nation had gone over Jordan.

Joshua 4 / Basic English

1. Now when all the nation had come to the other side of Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,
2. Take twelve men from the people, a man for every tribe,
3. And say to them, Take up from the middle of Jordan, from the place where the feet of the priests were resting, twelve stones, and take them over with you and put them down in the place where you take your rest tonight.
4. So Joshua sent for the twelve men, whom he had ready, one man out of every tribe of the children of Israel,
5. And he said to them, Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of Jordan, and let every one of you take up a stone on his back, one for every tribe of the children of Israel:
6. So that this may be a sign among you; when your children say to you in time to come, What is the reason for these stones?
7. Then you will say to them, Because the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the Lord's agreement; when it went over Jordan the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones will be a sign for the children of Israel, keeping it in their memory for ever.
8. So the children of Israel did as Joshua gave them orders, and took twelve stones from the middle of Jordan, as the Lord had said to Joshua, one for every tribe of the children of Israel; these they took across with them to their night's resting-place and put them down there.
9. And Joshua put up twelve stones in the middle of Jordan, where the feet of the priests who took up the ark of the agreement had been placed: and there they are to this day.
10. For the priests who took up the ark kept there in the middle of Jordan till all the orders given to Joshua by Moses from the Lord had been done: then the people went over quickly.
11. And when all the people had come to the other side, the ark of the Lord went over, and the priests, before the eyes of the people.
12. And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went over armed before the children of Israel as Moses had said to them:
13. About forty thousand armed for war went over before the Lord to the fight, to the lowlands of Jericho.
14. That day the Lord made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel; and all the days of his life they went in fear of him, as they had gone in fear of Moses.
15. Then the Lord said to Joshua,
16. Give orders to the priests who take up the ark of witness, to come up out of Jordan.
17. So Joshua gave orders to the priests, saying, Come up now out of Jordan.
18. And when the priests who took up the ark of the Lord's agreement came up out of Jordan and their feet came out on to dry land, the waters of Jordan went back to their place, overflowing its edges as before.
19. So on the tenth day of the first month the people came up out of Jordan, and put up their tents in Gilgal, on the east side of Jericho.
20. And the twelve stones which they took out of Jordan, Joshua put up in Gilgal.
21. And he said to the children of Israel, When your children say to their fathers in time to come, What is the reason for these stones?
22. Then give your children the story, and say, Israel came over this river Jordan on dry land.
23. For the Lord your God made the waters of Jordan dry before you till you had gone across, as he did to the Red Sea, drying it up before us till we had gone across:
24. So that all the peoples of the earth may see that the hand of the Lord is strong; and that they may go in fear of the Lord your God for ever.

Luke 5 / Basic English

1. Now it came about that while the people came pushing to be near him, and to have knowledge of the word of God, he was by a wide stretch of water named Gennesaret;
2. And he saw two boats by the edge of the water, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
3. And he got into one of the boats, the property of Simon, and made a request to him to go a little way out from the land. And being seated he gave the people teaching from the boat.
4. And when his talk was ended, he said to Simon, Go out into deep water, and let down your nets for fish.
5. And Simon, answering, said, Master, we were working all night and we took nothing: but at your word I will let down the nets.
6. And when they had done this, they got such a great number of fish that it seemed as if their nets would be broken;
7. And they made signs to their friends in the other boat to come to their help. And they came, and the two boats were so full that they were going down.
8. But Simon, when he saw it, went down at the knees of Jesus and said, Go away from me, O Lord, for I am a sinner.
9. For he was full of wonder and so were all those who were with him, at the number of fish which they had taken;
10. And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were working with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Have no fear; from this time forward you will be a fisher of men.
11. And when they had got their boats to the land, they gave up everything and went after him.
12. And it came about that while he was in one of the towns, there was a leper there: and when he saw Jesus he went down on his face in prayer to him, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.
13. And he put out his hand to him and said, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away his disease went from him.
14. And he gave him orders: Say nothing to any man, but let the priest see you and give an offering so that you may be made clean, as the law of Moses says, and for a witness to them.
15. But news of him went out all the more, in every direction, and great numbers of people came together to give hearing to his words and to be made well from their diseases.
16. But he went away by himself to a waste place for prayer.
17. And it came about that on one of these days he was teaching; and some Pharisees and teachers of the law were seated there, who had come from every town of Galilee and Judaea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him, to make those who were ill free from their diseases.
18. And some men had with them, on a bed, a man who was ill, without power of moving; and they made attempts to get him in and put him before Jesus.
19. And because of the mass of people, there was no way to get him in; so they went up on the top of the house and let him down through the roof, on his bed, into the middle in front of Jesus.
20. And seeing their faith he said, Man, you have forgiveness for your sins.
21. And the scribes and Pharisees were having an argument, saying, Who is this, who has no respect for God? who is able to give forgiveness for sins, but God only?
22. But Jesus, who had knowledge of their thoughts, said to them, Why are you reasoning in your hearts?
23. Which is the simpler: to say, You have forgiveness for your sins; or to say, Get up and go?
24. But so that you may see that on earth the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins, (he said to the man who was ill,) I say to you, Get up, and take up your bed, and go into your house.
25. And straight away he got up before them, and took up his bed and went away to his house giving praise to God.
26. And wonder overcame them all, and they gave glory to God; and they were full of fear, saying, We have seen strange things today.
27. And after these things he went out, and saw Levi, a tax-farmer, seated at the place where taxes were taken, and said to him, Come after me.
28. And giving up his business, he got up and went after him.
29. And Levi made a great feast for him in his house: and a great number of tax-farmers and others were seated at table with them.
30. And the Pharisees and their scribes made protests against his disciples, saying, Why do you take food and drink with tax-farmers and sinners?
31. And Jesus, answering, said to them, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill.
32. I have come, not to get the upright, but sinners, so that they may be turned from their sins.
33. And they said to him, The disciples of John frequently go without food, and make prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees; but your disciples take food and drink.
34. And Jesus said, Are you able to make the friends of the newly-married man go without food when he is with them?
35. But the days will come when he will be taken away from them, and then they will go without food.
36. And he said to them, in a story, No man takes a bit of cloth from a new coat and puts it on to an old coat, for so the new coat would be damaged and the bit from the new would not go well with the old.
37. And no man puts new wine into old wine-skins, for fear that the skins will be burst by the new wine, and the wine be let out, and the skins come to destruction.
38. But new wine has to be put into new wine-skins.
39. And no man, having had old wine, has any desire for new, for he says, The old is better.