Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Judges 4 / Basic English

1. And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord when Ehud was dead.
2. And the Lord gave them up into the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, who was ruling in Hazor; the captain of his army was Sisera, who was living in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
3. Then the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord; for he had nine hundred iron war-carriages, and for twenty years he was very cruel to the children of Israel.
4. Now Deborah, a woman prophet, the wife of Lapidoth, was judge of Israel at that time.
5. (And she had her seat under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her to be judged.)
6. And she sent for Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, given orders saying, Go and get your force into line in Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
7. And I will make Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his war-carriages and his forces, come against you at the river Kishon, where I will give him into your hands.
8. And Barak said to her, If you will go with me then I will go; but if you will not go with me I will not go.
9. And she said, I will certainly go with you: though you will get no honour in your undertaking, for the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman. So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10. Then Barak sent for Zebulun and Naphtali to come to Kedesh; and ten thousand men went up after him, and Deborah went up with him.
11. Now Heber the Kenite, separating himself from the rest of the Kenites, from the children of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, had put up his tent as far away as the oak-tree in Zaanannim, by Kedesh.
12. And word was given to Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor.
13. So Sisera got together all his war-carriages, nine hundred war-carriages of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles as far as the river Kishon.
14. Then Deborah said to Barak, Up! for today the Lord has given Sisera into your hands: has not the Lord gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him.
15. And the Lord sent fear on Sisera and all his war-carriages and all his army before Barak; and Sisera got down from his war-carriage and went in flight on foot.
16. But Barak went after the war-carriages and the army as far as Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all Sisera's army was put to the sword; not a man got away.
17. But Sisera went in flight on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18. And Jael went out to Sisera, and said to him, Come in, my lord, come in to me without fear. So he went into her tent, and she put a cover over him.
19. Then he said to her, Give me now a little water, for I have need of a drink. And opening a skin of milk, she gave him drink, and put the cover over him again.
20. And he said to her, Take your place at the door of the tent, and if anyone comes and says to you, Is there any man here, say, No.
21. Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent-pin and a hammer and went up to him quietly, driving the pin into his head, and it went through his head into the earth, for he was in a deep sleep from weariness; and so he came to his end.
22. Then Jael went out, and meeting Barak going after Sisera, said to him, Come, and I will let you see the man you are searching for. So he came into her tent and saw, and there was Sisera stretched out dead with the tent-pin in his head.
23. So that day God overcame Jabin, king of Canaan, before the children of Israel.
24. And the power of the children of Israel went on increasing against Jabin, king of Canaan, till he was cut off.

Judges 5 / Basic English

1. At that time Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, made this song, saying:
2. Because of the flowing hair of the fighters in Israel, because the people gave themselves freely, give praise to the Lord.
3. Give attention, O kings; give ear, O rulers; I, even I, will make a song to the Lord; I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel.
4. Lord, when you went out from Seir, moving like an army from the field of Edom, the earth was shaking and the heavens were troubled, and the clouds were dropping water.
5. The mountains were shaking before the Lord, before the Lord, the God of Israel.
6. In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were not used, and travellers went by side roads.
7. Country towns were no more in Israel, *** were no more, till you, Deborah, came up, till you came up as a mother in Israel.
8. They had no one to make arms, there were no more armed men in the towns; was there a body-cover or a spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?
9. Come, you rulers of Israel, you who gave yourselves freely among the people: give praise to the Lord.
10. Let them give thought to it, who go on white asses, and those who are walking on the road.
11. Give ear to the women laughing by the water-springs; there they will give again the story of the upright acts of the Lord, all the upright acts of his arm in Israel.
12. Awake! awake! Deborah: awake! awake! give a song: Up! Barak, and take prisoner those who took you prisoner, O son of Abinoam.
13. Then the chiefs went down to the doors; the Lord's people went down among the strong ones.
14. Out of Ephraim they came down into the valley; after you, Benjamin, among your tribesmen; from Machir came down the captains, and from Zebulun those in whose hand is the ruler's rod.
15. Your chiefs, Issachar, were with Deborah; and Naphtali was true to Barak; into the valley they went rushing out at his feet. In Reuben there were divisions, and great searchings of heart.
16. Why did you keep quiet among the sheep, hearing nothing but the watchers piping to the flocks?
17. Gilead was living over Jordan; and Dan was waiting in his ships; Asher kept in his place by the sea's edge, living by his inlets.
18. It was the people of Zebulun who put their lives in danger, even to death, with Naphtali on the high places of the field.
19. The kings came on to the fight, the kings of Canaan were warring; in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo: they took no profit in money.
20. The stars from heaven were fighting; from their highways they were fighting against Sisera.
21. The river Kishon took them violently away, stopping their flight, the river Kishon. Give praise, O my soul, to the strength of the Lord!
22. Then loudly the feet of the horses were sounding with the stamping, the stamping of their war-horses.
23. A curse, a curse on Meroz! said the angel of the Lord. A bitter curse on her townspeople! Because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord among the strong ones.
24. Blessings be on Jael, more than on all women! Blessings greater than on any in the tents!
25. His request was for water, she gave him milk; she put butter before him on a fair plate.
26. She put out her hand to the tent-pin, and her right hand to the workman's hammer; and she gave Sisera a blow, crushing his head, wounding and driving through his brow.
27. Bent at her feet he went down, he was stretched out; bent at her feet he went down; where he was bent down, there he went down in death.
28. Looking out from the window she gave a cry, the mother of Sisera was crying out through the window, Why is his carriage so long in coming? When will the noise of his wheels be sounding?
29. Her wise women gave answer to her, yes, she made answer again to herself,
30. Are they not getting, are they not parting the goods among them: a young girl or two to every man; and to Sisera robes of coloured needlework, worked in fair colours on this side and on that, for the neck of the queen?
31. So may destruction come on all your haters, O Lord; but let your lovers be like the sun going out in his strength. And for forty years the land had peace.

Luke 18 / Basic English

1. And he made a story for them, the point of which was that men were to go on making prayer and not get tired;
2. Saying, There was a judge in a certain town, who had no fear of God or respect for man:
3. And there was a widow in that town, and she kept on coming to him and saying, Give me my right against the man who has done me wrong.
4. And for a time he would not: but later, he said to himself, Though I have no fear of God or respect for man,
5. Because this widow is a trouble to me, I will give her her right; for if not, I will be completely tired out by her frequent coming.
6. And the Lord said, Give ear to the words of the evil judge.
7. And will not God do right in the cause of his saints, whose cries come day and night to his ears, though he is long in doing it?
8. I say to you that he will quickly do right in their cause. But when the Son of man comes, will there be any faith on earth?
9. And he made this story for some people who were certain that they were good, and had a low opinion of others:
10. Two men went up to the Temple for prayer; one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-farmer.
11. The Pharisee, taking up his position, said to himself these words: God, I give you praise because I am not like other men, who take more than their right, who are evil-doers, who are untrue to their wives, or even like this tax-farmer.
12. Twice in the week I go without food; I give a tenth of all I have.
13. The tax-farmer, on the other hand, keeping far away, and not lifting up even his eyes to heaven, made signs of grief and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
14. I say to you, This man went back to his house with God's approval, and not the other: for everyone who makes himself high will be made low and whoever makes himself low will be made high.
15. And they took their children to him, so that he might put his hands on them: but when the disciples saw it, they said sharp words to them
16. But Jesus sent for them, saying, Let the children come to me, and do not keep them away, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
17. Truly I say to you, Whoever does not put himself under the kingdom of God like a little child, will not come into it at all.
18. And a certain ruler put a question to him, saying, Good Master, what have I to do so that I may have eternal life?
19. And Jesus said to him, Why do you say that I am good? No one is good, but only God.
20. You have knowledge of what the law says: Do not be untrue to your wife, Do not put anyone to death, Do not take what is not yours, Do not give false witness, Give honour to your father and mother.
21. And he said, All these things I have done from the time when I was a boy.
22. And Jesus, hearing it, said to him, One thing you still have need of; get money for your goods, and give it away to the poor, and you will have wealth in heaven; and come after me.
23. But at these words he became very sad, for he had great wealth.
24. And Jesus, looking at him, said, How hard it is for those who have wealth to get into the kingdom of God!
25. It is simpler for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a man who has much money to come into the kingdom of God.
26. And those who were present said, Then who may have salvation?
27. But he said, Things which are not possible with man are possible with God.
28. And Peter said, See, we have given up what is ours to come after you.
29. And he said to them, Truly I say to you, There is no man who has given up house or wife or brothers or father or mother or children, because of the kingdom of God,
30. Who will not get much more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life.
31. And he took with him the twelve and said to them, Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things which were said by the prophets will be done to the Son of man.
32. For he will be given up to the Gentiles, and will be made sport of and put to shame:
33. And he will be given cruel blows and put to death, and on the third day he will come back to life.
34. But they did not take in the sense of any of these words, and what he said was not clear to them, and their minds were not able to see it.
35. And it came about that when he got near Jericho, a certain blind man was seated by the side of the road, making requests for money from those who went by.
36. And hearing the sound of a great number of people going by, he said, What is this?
37. And they said to him, Jesus of Nazareth is going by.
38. And he said in a loud voice, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.
39. And those who were in front made protests and said to him, Be quiet: but he said all the more, O Son of David, have mercy on me.
40. And Jesus, stopping, gave orders that he was to come to him, and when he came near, he said to him,
41. What would you have me do for you? And he said, Lord, that I may be able to see again.
42. And Jesus said, See again: your faith has made you well.
43. And straight away he was able to see, and he went after him, giving glory to God; and all the people when they saw it gave praise to God.