Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Joshua 20 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Joshua,
2. Say to the children of Israel, Let certain towns be marked out as safe places, as I said to you by the mouth of Moses,
3. So that any man who in error and without design has taken the life of another, may go in flight to them: and they will be safe places for you from him who has the right of punishment for blood.
4. And if anyone goes in flight to one of those towns, and comes into the public place of the town, and puts his cause before the responsible men of the town, they will take him into the town and give him a place among them where he may be safe.
5. And if the one who has the right of punishment comes after him, they are not to give the taker of life up to him; because he was the cause of his neighbour's death without designing it and not in hate.
6. And he is to go on living in that town till he has to come before the meeting of the people to be judged; (till the death of him who is high priest at that time:) then the taker of life may come back to his town and to his house, to the town from which he had gone in flight.
7. So they made selection of Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (which is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah.
8. And on the east side of Jordan at Jericho, they made selection of Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.
9. These were the towns marked out for all the children of Israel and for the man from a strange country living among them, so that anyone causing the death of another in error, might go in flight there, and not be put to death by him who has the right of punishment for blood till he had come before the meeting of the people.

Joshua 21 / Basic English

1. Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun, and to the heads of families of the tribes of the children of Israel;
2. And said to them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, The Lord gave orders by Moses that we were to have towns for living in, with their grass-lands for our cattle.
3. And the children of Israel out of their heritage gave to the Levites these towns with their grass-lands, by the order of the Lord.
4. And the heritage came out for the families of the Kohathites: the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.
5. The rest of the children of Kohath by their families were given ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim and Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
6. The children of Gershon by their families were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar and Asher and Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh which was in Bashan.
7. The children of Merari by their families were given twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben and Gad and Zebulun.
8. All these towns with their grass-lands the children of Israel gave by the decision of the Lord to the Levites, as the Lord had given orders by Moses.
9. From the tribes of the children of Judah and the children of Simeon they gave these towns, listed here by name:
10. These were for the children of Aaron among the families of the Kohathites, of the children of Levi: for they came first in the distribution.
11. They gave them Kiriath-arba, the town of Arba, the father of Anak, (which is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah, with its grass-lands.
12. But the open country round the town, and its unwalled places, they gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, as his property.
13. And to the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Libnah with its grass-lands;
14. And Jattir with its grass-lands, and Eshtemoa with its grass-lands;
15. And Holon with its grass-lands, and Debir with its grass-lands;
16. And Ain, and Juttah, and Beth-shemesh, with their grass-lands; nine towns from those two tribes.
17. And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave Gibeon and Geba with their grass-lands;
18. Anathoth and Almon with their grass-lands, four towns.
19. Thirteen towns with their grass-lands were given to the children of Aaron, the priests.
20. The rest of the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, were given towns from the tribe of Ephraim.
21. And they gave them Shechem with its grass-lands in the hill-country of Ephraim, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Gezer with its grass-lands;
22. And Kibzaim and Beth-horon with their grass-lands, four towns.
23. And from the tribe of Dan, Elteke and Gibbethon with their grass-lands;
24. Aijalon and Gath-rimmon with their grass-lands, four towns.
25. And from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and Gath-rimmon with their grass-lands, two towns.
26. All the towns of the rest of the families of the children of Kohath were ten with their grass-lands.
27. And to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, they gave from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Ashtaroth with its grass-lands, two towns.
28. And from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion and Daberath with their grass-lands;
29. Jarmuth and En-gannim with their grass-lands, four towns.
30. And from the tribe of Asher, Mishal and Abdon, with their grass-lands:
31. Helkath and Rehob with their grass-lands, four towns.
32. And from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Hammoth-dor and Kartan with their grass-lands, three towns.
33. All the towns of the Gershonites with their families were thirteen with their grass-lands.
34. And to the rest of the Levites, that is, the families of the children of Merari, they gave from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and Kartah with their grass-lands;
35. Dimnah and Nahalal with their grass-lands, four towns.
36. And from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and Jahaz with their grass-lands;
37. Kedemoth and Mephaath with their grass-lands, four towns.
38. And from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Mahanaim with their grass-lands;
39. Heshbon and Jazer with their grass-lands, four towns.
40. All these towns were given to the children of Merari by their families, that is, the rest of the families of the Levites; and their heritage was twelve towns.
41. All the towns of the Levites, among the heritage of the children of Israel, were forty-eight towns with their grass-lands.
42. Every one of these towns had grass-lands round it.
43. So the Lord gave to Israel all the land which he gave by oath to their fathers; so it became their heritage and their living-place.
44. And the Lord gave them peace on every side, as he had said to their fathers: all those who were against them gave way before them, for the Lord gave them all up into their hands.
45. The Lord kept faith with the house of Israel about all the good which he said he would do for them, and all his words came true.

Luke 14 / Basic English

1. And it came about that when he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees on the Sabbath, to have a meal, they were watching him.
2. And a certain man was there who had a disease.
3. And Jesus, answering, said to the scribes and Pharisees, Is it right to make people well on the Sabbath or not?
4. But they said nothing. And he made him well and sent him away.
5. And he said to them, Which of you, whose ox or ass has got into a water-hole, will not straight away get him out on the Sabbath?
6. And they had no answer to that question.
7. And he gave teaching in the form of a story to the guests who came to the feast, when he saw how they took the best seats; saying to them,
8. When you get a request to come to a feast, do not take the best seat, for a more important man than you may be coming,
9. And then the giver of the feast will come to you and say, Give your place to this man; and you, with shame, will have to take the lowest seat.
10. But when you come, go and take the lowest seat, so that when the giver of the feast comes, he may say to you, Friend, come up higher; and then you will have honour in the eyes of all the others who are there.
11. For every man who gives himself a high place will be put down, but he who takes a low place will be lifted up.
12. And he said to the master of the house, When you give a feast, do not send for your friends and your brothers and your family or your neighbours who have wealth, for they may give a feast for you, and so you will get a reward.
13. But when you give a feast, send for the poor and the blind and those who are broken in body:
14. And you will have a blessing, because they will not be able to give you any payment, and you will get your reward when the upright come back from the dead.
15. And, hearing these words, one of those who were at table with him said to him, Happy is the man who will be a guest in the kingdom of God.
16. And he said to them, A certain man gave a great feast, and sent word of it to a number of people.
17. And when the time had come, he sent his servants to say to them, Come, for all things are now ready.
18. And they all gave reasons why they were not able to come. The first said to him, I have got a new field, and it is necessary for me to go and see it: I am full of regret that I am unable to come.
19. And another said, I have got some cattle, and I am going to make a test of them: I am full of regret that I am unable to come.
20. And another said, I have been married, and so I am not able to come.
21. And the servant came back and gave his master an account of these things. Then the master of the house was angry and said to the servant, Go out quickly into the streets of the town and get the poor, the blind, and those who are broken in body.
22. And the servant said, Lord, your orders have been done, and still there is room.
23. And the lord said to the servant, Go out into the roads and the fields, and make them come in, so that my house may be full.
24. For I say to you that not one of those who were requested to come will have a taste of my feast.
25. Now a great number of people went with him.
26. And turning round, he said to them, If any man comes to me, and has not hate for his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even for his life, he may not be my disciple.
27. Whoever does not take up his cross and come after me may not be my disciple.
28. For which of you, desiring to put up a tower, does not first give much thought to the price, if he will have enough to make it complete?
29. For fear that if he makes a start and is not able to go on with it to the end, all who see it will be laughing at him,
30. And saying, This man made a start at building and is not able to make it complete.
31. Or what king, going to war with another king, will not first take thought if he will be strong enough, with ten thousand men, to keep off him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32. Or while the other is still a great distance away, he sends representatives requesting conditions of peace.
33. And so whoever is not ready to give up all he has may not be my disciple.
34. For salt is good, but if the taste goes from it, of what use is it?
35. It is no good for the land or for the place of waste; no one has a use for it. He who has ears, let him give ear.