Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 22 / Basic English

1. Now after these things, God put Abraham to the test, and said to him, Abraham; and he said, Here am I.
2. And he said to him, Take your son, your dearly loved only son Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and give him as a burned offering on one of the mountains of which I will give you knowledge.
3. And Abraham got up early in the morning, and made ready his ass, and took with him two of his young men and Isaac, his son, and after the wood for the burned offering had been cut, he went on his way to the place of which God had given him word.
4. And on the third day, Abraham, lifting up his eyes, saw the place a long way off.
5. Then he said to his young men, Keep here with the ass; and I and the boy will go on and give worship and come back again to you.
6. And Abraham put the wood for the burned offering on his son's back, and he himself took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them went on together.
7. Then Isaac said to Abraham, My father; and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, We have wood and fire here, but where is the lamb for the burned offering?
8. And Abraham said, God himself will give the lamb for the burned offering: so they went on together.
9. And they came to the place of which God had given him knowledge; and there Abraham made the altar and put the wood in place on it, and having made tight the bands round Isaac his son, he put him on the wood on the altar.
10. And stretching out his hand, Abraham took the knife to put his son to death.
11. But the voice of the angel of the Lord came from heaven, saying, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12. And he said, Let not your hand be stretched out against the boy to do anything to him; for now I am certain that the fear of God is in your heart, because you have not kept back your son, your only son, from me.
13. And lifting up his eyes, Abraham saw a sheep fixed by its horns in the brushwood: and Abraham took the sheep and made a burned offering of it in place of his son.
14. And Abraham gave that place the name Yahweh-yireh: as it is said to this day, In the mountain the Lord is seen.
15. And the voice of the angel of the Lord came to Abraham a second time from heaven,
16. Saying, I have taken an oath by my name, says the Lord, because you have done this and have not kept back from me your dearly loved only son,
17. That I will certainly give you my blessing, and your seed will be increased like the stars of heaven and the sand by the seaside; your seed will take the land of those who are against them;
18. And your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, because you have done what I gave you orders to do.
19. Then Abraham went back to his young men and they went together to Beer-sheba, the place where Abraham was living.
20. After these things, Abraham had news that Milcah, the wife of his brother Nahor, had given birth to children;
21. Uz the oldest, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram,
22. And Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.
23. Bethuel was the father of Rebekah: these eight were the children of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham's brother.
24. And his servant Reumah gave birth to Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Genesis 23 / Basic English

1. Now the years of Sarah's life were a hundred and twenty-seven.
2. And Sarah's death took place in Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan: and Abraham went into his house, weeping and sorrowing for Sarah.
3. And Abraham came from his dead and said to the children of Heth,
4. I am living among you as one from a strange country: give me some land here as my property, so that I may put my dead to rest.
5. And in answer the children of Heth said to Abraham,
6. My lord, truly you are a great chief among us; take the best of our resting-places for your dead; not one of us will keep back from you a place where you may put your dead to rest.
7. And Abraham got up and gave honour to the children of Heth, the people of that land.
8. And he said to them, If you will let me put my dead to rest here, make a request for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar,
9. That he will give me the hollow in the rock named Machpelah, which is his property at the end of his field; let him give it to me for its full price as a resting-place for my dead among you.
10. Now Ephron was seated among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite gave Abraham his answer in the hearing of the children of Heth, and of all those who came into his town, saying,
11. No, my lord, I will give you the field with the hollow in the rock; before all the children of my people will I give it to you for a resting-place for your dead.
12. And Abraham went down on his face before the people of the land.
13. And Abraham said to Ephron, in the hearing of the people of the land, If only you will give ear to me, I will give you the price of the field; take it, and let me put my dead to rest there.
14. So Ephron said to Abraham,
15. My lord, give ear to me: the value of the land is four hundred shekels; what is that between me and you? so put your dead to rest there.
16. And Abraham took note of the price fixed by Ephron in the hearing of the children of Heth, and gave him four hundred shekels in current money.
17. So Ephron's field at Machpelah near Mamre, with the hollow in the rock and all the trees in the field and round it,
18. Became the property of Abraham before the eyes of the children of Heth and of all who came into the town.
19. Then Abraham put Sarah his wife to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, that is, Hebron in the land of Canaan.
20. And the field and the hollow rock were handed over to Abraham as his property by the children of Heth.

Matthew 12 / Basic English

1. At that time Jesus went through the fields on the Sabbath day; and his disciples, being in need of food, were taking the heads of grain.
2. But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, See, your disciples do that which it is not right to do on the Sabbath.
3. But he said to them, Have you no knowledge of what David did when he had need of food, and those who were with him?
4. How he went into the house of God and took for food the holy bread which it was not right for him or for those who were with him to take, but only for the priests?
5. Or is it not said in the law, how the Sabbath is broken by the priests in the Temple and they do no wrong?
6. But I say to you that a greater thing than the Temple is here.
7. But if these words had been in your minds, My desire is for mercy and not for offerings, you would not have been judging those who have done no wrong.
8. For the Son of man is lord of the Sabbath.
9. And he went from there into their Synagogue:
10. And there was a man with a dead hand. And they put a question to him, saying, Is it right to make a man well on the Sabbath day? so that they might have something against him.
11. And he said to them, Which of you, having a sheep, if it gets into a hole on the Sabbath day, will not put out a helping hand and get it back?
12. Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! For this reason it is right to do good on the Sabbath day.
13. Then said he to the man, Put out your hand. And he put it out, and it was made as well as the other.
14. But the Pharisees went out and made designs against him, how they might put him to death.
15. And Jesus, having knowledge of this, went away from there, and a great number went after him; and he made them all well,
16. Ordering them not to give people word of him:
17. So that what was said by Isaiah the prophet might come true,
18. See my servant, the man of my selection, my loved one in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit on him, and he will make my decision clear to the Gentiles.
19. His coming will not be with fighting or loud cries; and his voice will not be lifted up in the streets.
20. The crushed stem will not be broken by him; and the feebly burning light will he not put out, till he has made righteousness overcome all.
21. And in his name will the Gentiles put their hope.
22. Then they took to him one with an evil spirit, who was blind and had no power of talking: and he made him well so that he had the power of talking and seeing.
23. And all the people were surprised and said, Is not this the Son of David?
24. But the Pharisees, hearing of it, said, This man only sends evil spirits out of men by Beelzebub, the ruler of evil spirits.
25. And having knowledge of their thoughts he said to them, Every kingdom having division in itself is made waste, and every town or house having division in itself will come to destruction.
26. And if Satan sends out Satan, he makes war against himself; how then will he keep his kingdom?
27. And if I by Beelzebub send evil spirits out of men, by whom do your sons send them out? So let them be your judges.
28. But if I by the Spirit of God send out evil spirits, then is the kingdom of God come on you.
29. Or how may one go into a strong man's house and take his goods, if he does not first put cords round the strong man? and then he may take his goods.
30. Whoever is not with me is against me; and he who does not take part with me in getting people together, is driving them away.
31. So I say to you, Every sin and every evil word against God will have forgiveness; but for evil words against the Spirit there will be no forgiveness.
32. And whoever says a word against the Son of man, will have forgiveness; but whoever says a word against the Holy Spirit, will not have forgiveness in this life or in that which is to come.
33. Make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for by its fruit you will get knowledge of the tree.
34. You offspring of snakes, how are you, being evil, able to say good things? because out of the heart's store come the words of the mouth.
35. The good man out of his good store gives good things; and the evil man out of his evil store gives evil things.
36. And I say to you that in the day when they are judged, men will have to give an account of every foolish word they have said.
37. For by your words will your righteousness be seen, and by your words you will be judged.
38. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees, hearing this, said to him, Master, we are looking for a sign from you.
39. But he, answering, said to them, An evil and false generation is looking for a sign; and no sign will be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah:
40. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41. The men of Nineveh will come up in the day of judging and give their decision against this generation: because they were turned from their sins at the preaching of Jonah; and now a greater than Jonah is here.
42. The queen of the South will come up in the day of judging and give her decision against this generation: for she came from the ends of the earth to give ear to the wisdom of Solomon; and now a greater than Solomon is here.
43. But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of a man, goes through dry places looking for rest, and getting it not.
44. Then he says, I will go back into my house from which I came out; and when he comes, he sees that there is no one in it, but that it has been made fair and clean.
45. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits worse than himself, and they go in and make it their living-place: and the last condition of that man is worse than the first. Even so will it be with this evil generation.
46. While he was still talking to the people, his mother and his brothers came, desiring to have talk with him.
47. And one said to him, See, your mother and your brothers are outside, desiring to have talk with you.
48. But he in answer said to him who gave the news, Who is my mother and who are my brothers?
49. And he put out his hand to his disciples and said, See, my mother and my brothers!
50. For whoever does the pleasure of my Father in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.