Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Joshua 22 / Basic English

1. Then Joshua sent for the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh,
2. And said to them, You have kept all the orders of Moses, the Lord's servant, and have done everything I gave you orders to do:
3. You have now been with your brothers for a long time; till this day you have been doing the orders of the Lord your God.
4. And now the Lord your God has given your brothers rest, as he said: so now you may go back to your tents, to the land of your heritage, which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave to you on the other side of Jordan.
5. Only take great care to do the orders and the law which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave you; to have love for the Lord your God and to go in all his ways; and to keep his laws and to be true to him and to be his servants with all your heart and with all your soul.
6. Then Joshua gave them his blessing and sent them away: and they went back to their tents.
7. Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a heritage in Bashan; but to the other half, Joshua gave a heritage among their brothers on the west side of Jordan. Now when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he gave them his blessing,
8. And said to them, Go back with much wealth to your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver and gold and brass and iron, and with a very great store of clothing; give your brothers a part of the goods taken in the war.
9. So Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went back, parting from the children of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their heritage which had been given to them by the Lord's order to Moses.
10. Now when they came to the country by Jordan in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh put up there, by Jordan, a great altar, seen from far.
11. And news came to the children of Israel, See, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have put up an altar opposite the land of Canaan, in the country by Jordan on the side which is Israel's.
12. Then all the meeting of the children of Israel, hearing this, came together at Shiloh to go up against them to war.
13. And the children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead,
14. And with him they sent ten chiefs, one for every tribe of the children of Israel, every one of them the head of his house among the families of Israel.
15. And they came to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and said to them,
16. This is what all the meeting of the people of the Lord has said, What is this wrong which you have done against the God of Israel, turning back this day from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, and being false to the Lord?
17. Was not the sin of Baal-peor great enough, from which we are not clear even to this day, though punishment came on the people of the Lord,
18. That now you are turned back from the Lord? and, because you are false to him today, tomorrow his wrath will be let loose on all the people of Israel.
19. But if the land you now have is unclean, come over into the Lord's land where his House is, and take up your heritage among us: but do not be false to the Lord and to us by building yourselves an altar in addition to the altar of the Lord our God.
20. Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, do wrong about the cursed thing, causing wrath to come on all the people of Israel? And not on him only came the punishment of death.
21. Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,
22. God, even God the Lord, God, even God the Lord, he sees, and Israel will see--if it is in pride or in sin against the Lord,
23. That we have made ourselves an altar, being false to the Lord, keep us not safe from death this day; and if for the purpose of offering burned offerings on it and meal offerings, or peace-offerings, let the Lord himself send punishment for it;
24. And if we have not, in fact, done this designedly and with purpose, having in our minds the fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?
25. For the Lord has made Jordan a line of division between us and you, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad; you have no part in the Lord: so your children will make our children give up fearing the Lord.
26. So we said, Let us now make an altar for ourselves, not for burned offerings or for the offerings of beasts:
27. But to be a witness between us and you, and between the future generations, that we have the right of worshipping the Lord with our burned offerings and our offerings of beasts and our peace-offerings; so that your children will not be able to say to our children in time to come, You have no part in the Lord.
28. For we said to ourselves, If they say this to us or to future generations, then we will say, See this copy of the Lord's altar which our fathers made, not for burned offerings or offerings of beasts, but for a witness between us and you.
29. Never let it be said that we were false to the Lord, turning back this day from him and building an altar for burned offerings and meal offerings and offerings of beasts, in addition to the altar of the Lord our God which is before his House.
30. Then Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the meeting and the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, hearing what the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh said, were pleased.
31. And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, said to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh, Now we are certain that the Lord is among us, because you have not done this wrong against the Lord: and you have kept us from falling into the hands of the Lord.
32. Then Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs went back from the land of Gilead, from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad, and came to the children of Israel in Canaan and gave them the news.
33. And the children of Israel were pleased about this; and they gave praise to God, and had no more thought of going to war against the children of Reuben and the children of Gad for the destruction of their land.
34. And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad gave to that altar the name of Ed. For, they said, It is a witness between us that the Lord is God.

Joshua 23 / Basic English

1. Now after a long time, when the Lord had given Israel rest from wars on every side, and Joshua was old and full of years,
2. Joshua sent for all Israel, for their responsible men and their chiefs and their judges and their overseers, and said to them, I am old, and full of years:
3. You have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you; for it is the Lord your God who has been fighting for you.
4. Now I have given to you, as the heritage of your tribes, all these nations which are still in the land, together with those cut off by me, from Jordan as far as the Great Sea on the west.
5. The Lord your God will send them away by force, driving them out before you; and you are to take their land for your heritage, as the Lord your God said to you.
6. So be very strong to keep and do whatever is recorded in the book of the law of Moses, not turning away from it to the right or to the left;
7. Have nothing to do with these nations who still are living among you; let not their gods be named by you or used in your oaths; do not be their servants or give them worship:
8. But be true to the Lord your God as you have been till this day.
9. For the Lord has sent out from before you nations great and strong: and they have all given way before you till this day.
10. One man of you is able to put to flight a thousand; for it is the Lord your God who is fighting for you, as he has said to you.
11. So keep watch on yourselves, and see that you have love for the Lord your God.
12. For if you go back, joining yourselves to the rest of these nations who are still among you, getting married to them and living with them and they with you:
13. Then you may be certain that the Lord your God will not go on driving these nations out from before you; but they will become a danger and a cause of sin to you, a whip for your sides and thorns in your eyes, till you are cut off from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.
14. Now I am about to go the way of all the earth: and you have seen and are certain, all of you, in your hearts and souls, that in all the good things which the Lord said about you, he has kept faith with you; everything has come true for you.
15. And you will see that, as all the good things which the Lord your God undertook to do for you, have come to you, so the Lord will send down on you all the evil things till he has made your destruction complete, and you are cut off from the good land which the Lord your God has given you.
16. If the agreement of the Lord your God, which was given to you by his orders, is broken, and you become the servants of other gods and give them worship, then the wrath of the Lord will be burning against you, and you will quickly be cut off from the good land which he has given you.

Luke 15 / Basic English

1. Now all the tax-farmers and sinners came near to give ear to him.
2. And the Pharisees and scribes were angry, saying, This man gives approval to sinners, and takes food with them.
3. And he made a story for them, saying,
4. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if one of them gets loose and goes away, will not let the ninety-nine be in the waste land by themselves, and go after the wandering one, till he sees where it is?
5. And when he has got it again, he takes it in his arms with joy.
6. And when he gets back to his house, he sends for his neighbours and friends, saying to them, Be glad with me, for I have got back my sheep which had gone away.
7. I say to you that even so there will be more joy in heaven when one sinner is turned away from his wrongdoing, than for ninety-nine good men, who have no need of a change of heart.
8. Or what woman, having ten bits of silver, if one bit has gone from her hands, will not get a light, and go through her house, searching with care till she sees it?
9. And when she has it again, she gets her friends and neighbours together, saying, Be glad with me, for I have got back the bit of silver which had gone from me.
10. Even so, I say to you, There is joy among the angels of God, when one sinner is turned away from his wrongdoing.
11. And he said, A certain man had two sons:
12. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me that part of your property which will be mine. And he made division of his goods between them.
13. And not long after, the younger son got together everything which was his and took a journey into a far-away country, and there all his money went in foolish living.
14. And when everything was gone, there was no food to be had in that country, and he was in need.
15. And he went and put himself into the hands of one of the people of that country, and he sent him into his fields to give the pigs their food.
16. And so great was his need that he would have been glad to take the pigs' food, and no one gave him anything.
17. But when he came to his senses, he said, What numbers of my father's servants have bread enough, and more, while I am near to death here through need of food!
18. I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have done wrong, against heaven and in your eyes:
19. I am no longer good enough to be named your son: make me like one of your servants.
20. And he got up and went to his father. But while he was still far away, his father saw him and was moved with pity for him and went quickly and took him in his arms and gave him a kiss.
21. And his son said to him, Father, I have done wrong, against heaven and in your eyes: I am no longer good enough to be named your son.
22. But the father said to his servants, Get out the first robe quickly, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet:
23. And get the fat young ox and put it to death, and let us have a feast, and be glad.
24. For this, my son, who was dead, is living again; he had gone away from me, and has come back. And they were full of joy.
25. Now the older son was in the field: and when he came near the house, the sounds of music and dancing came to his ears.
26. And he sent for one of the servants, questioning him about what it might be.
27. And he said to him, Your brother has come; and your father has had the young ox put to death because he has come back safely.
28. But he was angry and would not go in; and his father came out and made a request to him to come in.
29. But he made answer and said to his father, See, all these years I have been your servant, doing your orders in everything: and you never gave me even a young goat so that I might have a feast with my friends:
30. But when this your son came, who has been wasting your property with bad women, you put to death the fat young ox for him.
31. And he said to him, Son, you are with me at all times, and all I have is yours.
32. But it was right to be glad and to have a feast; for this your brother, who was dead, is living again; he had gone away and has come back.