Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Judges 7 / Basic English

1. Then Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, and all the people with him, got up early and put up their tents by the side of the water-spring of Harod; the tents of Midian were on the north side of him, under the hill of Moreh in the valley.
2. And the Lord said to Gideon, So great is the number of your people, that if I give the Midianites into their hands they will be uplifted in pride over me and will say, I myself have been my saviour.
3. So now, let it be given out to the people that anyone who is shaking with fear is to go back from Mount Galud. So twenty-two thousand of the people went back, but there were still ten thousand.
4. Then the Lord said to Gideon, There are still more people than is necessary; take them down to the water so that I may put them to the test for you there; then whoever I say is to go with you will go, and whoever I say is not to go will not go.
5. So he took the people down to the water; and the Lord said to Gideon, Put on one side by themselves all those drinking up the water with their tongues like a dog; and in the same way, all those who go down on their knees to the water while drinking.
6. Now the number of those who took up the water with their tongues was three hundred; all the rest of the people went down on their knees to the water.
7. And the Lord said to Gideon, By those three hundred who were drinking with their tongues I will give you salvation and give the Midianites into your hands; let the rest of the people go away, every man to his place.
8. So they took the vessels of the people, and their horns from their hands, and he sent them away, every man to his tent, keeping only the three hundred; and the tents of Midian were lower down in the valley.
9. The same night the Lord said to him, Up! go down now against their army, for I have given them into your hands.
10. But if you have fear of going down, take your servant Purah with you and go down to the tents;
11. And after hearing what they are saying, you will get strength to go down against the army. So he went down with his servant Purah to the outer line of the tents of the armed men.
12. Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east were covering the valley like locusts; and their camels were like the sand by the seaside, without number.
13. When Gideon came there, a man was giving his friend an account of his dream, saying, See, I had a dream about a cake of barley bread which, falling into the tents of Midian, came on to the tent, overturning it so that it was stretched out flat on the earth.
14. And his friend in answer said, This is certainly the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, the men of Israel: into their hands God has given up all the army of Midian.
15. Then Gideon, hearing the story of the dream and the sense in which they took it, gave worship; then he went back to the tents of Israel, and said, Up! for the Lord has given the army of Midian into your hands.
16. Then separating the three hundred men into three bands, he gave every man a horn, and a vessel in which was a flaming branch.
17. And he said to them, Keep your eyes on me, and do what I do; when I come to the outer line of tents, whatever I do, you are to do the same.
18. At the sound of my horn, and the horns of those who are with me, let your horns be sounded all round the tents, and say, For the Lord and for Gideon.
19. So Gideon and the three hundred men who were with him came to the outer line of tents, at the start of the middle watch, when the watchmen had only then taken their stations; and the horns were sounded and the vessels broken.
20. So the three bands all gave a loud note on their horns, and when the vessels had been broken, they took the flaming branches in their left hands, and the horns in their right hands ready for blowing, crying out, For the Lord and for Gideon.
21. Then they made a line round the tents, every man in his place; and all the army, awaking from sleep, came running out, and with loud cries went in flight.
22. And the three hundred gave a loud note on their horns, and every man's sword was turned by the Lord against his brother all through the army; and the army went in flight as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zeredah, to the edge of Abel-meholah by Tabbath.
23. And the men of Israel came together from Naphtali and from Asher and all Manasseh, and went after Midian.
24. Then Gideon sent through all the hill-country of Ephraim saying, Come down against Midian, and keep the ways across Jordan before they come. So all the men of Ephraim, massing themselves together, kept the ways across Jordan.
25. And they took the two chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; and they put Oreb to death at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they put to death at the place of the grape-crushing in Zeeb, and they went after Midian; but the heads of Oreb and Zeeb they took across Jordan to Gideon.

Judges 8 / Basic English

1. And the men of Ephraim came and said to him, Why did you not send for us when you went to war against Midian? And they said sharp and angry words to him.
2. And he said to them, What have I done in comparison with you? Is not that which Ephraim took up after the grape-cutting better than all the grapes which Abiezer got in from the grape-cutting?
3. God has given into your hands the chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you? And when he said this, their feeling about him became kinder.
4. Then Gideon came to Jordan and went over it with his three hundred, overcome with weariness and in need of food.
5. And he said to the men of Succoth, Give bread cakes to my people, for they are overcome with weariness, and I am going on after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.
6. But the chiefs of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand that we are to give bread to your army?
7. Then Gideon said, Because of this, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will have you stretched on a bed of thorns of the waste land and on sharp stems, and have you crushed as grain is crushed on a grain-floor.
8. So he went up from there to Penuel and made the same request to the men of Penuel; but they gave him the same answer as the men of Succoth had given.
9. So he said to the men of Penuel, When I come back in peace, I will have this tower broken down.
10. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, those of all the army of the children of the east who were still living; for a hundred and twenty thousand of their swordsmen had been put to death.
11. And Gideon went up by the way used by the people living in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and made an attack on the army when they had no thought of danger.
12. And Zebah and Zalmunna went in flight; and he went after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and put all the army to the curse.
13. Then Gideon, the son of Joash, went back from the fight:
14. And taking prisoner a young man of the people of Succoth, he got from him, in answer to his questions, a list of the chiefs of Succoth and the responsible men, seventy-seven men.
15. So he came to the men of Succoth and said, Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, on account of whom you made sport of me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna even now in your hand, that we are to give bread to your army who are overcome with weariness?
16. Then he took the responsible men of the town and had them crushed on a bed of thorns and sharp stems.
17. And he had the tower of Penuel broken down and the men of the town put to death.
18. Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, Where are the men whom you put to death at Tabor? And they gave answer, As you are, so were they; every one of them was like a king's son.
19. And he said, They were my brothers, my mother's sons: by the life of the Lord, if you had kept them safe, I would not put you to death.
20. Then he said to Jether, his oldest son, Up! Put them to death. But the boy did not take out his sword, fearing because he was still a boy.
21. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Up! Put an end to us yourself: for you have a man's strength. Then Gideon got up and put Zebah and Zalmunna to death and took the ornaments which were on their camels' necks.
22. Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Be our ruler, you and your son and your son's son after him; for you have been our saviour from the hands of Midian.
23. But Gideon said to them, I will not be a ruler over you, and my son will not be a ruler over you: it is the Lord who will be ruler over you.
24. Then Gideon said to them, I have a request to make to you; let every man give me the ear-rings he has taken. (For they had gold ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
25. And they gave answer, We will gladly give them. So they put down a robe, every man dropping into it the ear-rings he had taken.
26. The weight of the gold ear-rings which he got from them was one thousand, seven hundred shekels of gold; in addition to the moon-ornaments and jewels and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and the chains on their camels' necks.
27. And Gideon made an ephod from them and put it up in his town Ophrah; and all Israel went after it there and were false to the Lord; and it became a cause of sin to Gideon and his house.
28. So Midian was broken before the children of Israel and the Midianites never got back their strength. And the land had peace for forty years, in the days of Gideon.
29. And Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went back to his house and was living there.
30. Gideon had seventy sons, the offspring of his body; for he had a number of wives.
31. And the servant-wife he had in Shechem had a son by him, to whom he gave the name Abimelech.
32. And Gideon, the son of Joash, came to his end when he was very old, and his body was put in the resting-place of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
33. And after the death of Gideon, the children of Israel again went after the gods of Canaan and were false to the Lord, and made Baal-berith their god.
34. And the children of Israel did not keep in their minds the Lord their God, who had been their saviour from all their haters on every side;
35. And they were not kind to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in reward for all the good he had done to Israel.

Luke 20 / Basic English

1. And it came about on one of those days, when he was teaching the people in the Temple and preaching the good news,
2. That the chief priests and the scribes and the rulers of the people came to him and said, Make clear to us by what authority you do these things and who gave you this authority.
3. And in answer he said to them, I will put a question to you, and do you give me an answer:
4. The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men?
5. And they said among themselves, If we say, From heaven; he will say, Why did you not have faith in him?
6. But if we say, Of men; we will be stoned by the people, for they are certain that John was a prophet.
7. And they made answer that they had no idea where it came from.
8. And Jesus said, And I will not make clear to you by what authority I do these things.
9. And he gave the people this story: A man made a vine-garden and gave the use of it to some field-workers and went into another country for a long time.
10. And at the right time he sent a servant to the workers to get part of the fruit from the vines; but the workmen gave him blows and sent him away with nothing.
11. And he sent another servant, and they gave blows to him in the same way, and put shame on him, and sent him away with nothing.
12. And he sent a third, and they gave him wounds and put him out.
13. And the lord of the garden said, What am I to do? I will send my dearly loved son; they may give respect to him.
14. But when the workmen saw him, they said to one another, This is he who will one day be the owner of the property: let us put him to death and the heritage will be ours.
15. And driving him out of the garden they put him to death. Now what will the lord do to these workmen?
16. He will come and put them to destruction and give the garden to others. And when he said this, they said, May it not be so.
17. But he, looking on them, said, Is it not in the Writings, The stone which the builders put on one side, the same has become the chief stone of the building?
18. Everyone falling on that stone will be broken, but the man on whom the stone comes down will be crushed to dust.
19. And the chief priests and the scribes made attempts to get their hands on him in that very hour; and they were in fear of the people, for they saw that he had made up this story against them.
20. And they kept watch on him, and sent out secret representatives, who were acting the part of good men, in order that they might get something from his words, on account of which they might give him up to the government and into the power of the ruler.
21. And they put a question to him, saying, Master, we are certain that your teaching and your words are right, and that you have no respect for a man's position, but you are teaching the true way of God:
22. Is it right for us to make payment of taxes to Caesar or not?
23. But he saw through their trick and said to them,
24. Let me see a penny. Whose image and name are on it? And they said, Caesar's.
25. And he said, Then give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things which are God's.
26. And they were not able to get anything from these words before the people: but they were full of wonder at his answer, and said nothing.
27. And some of the Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no coming back from the dead; and they said to him,
28. Master, Moses said that if a man's brother comes to his end, having a wife, but no children, his brother is to take the wife, and get a family for his brother.
29. Now there were seven brothers, and the first had a wife and came to his end, having no children;
30. And the second;
31. And the third took her; and in the same way, all the seven, without having any children, came to their end.
32. And last of all, the woman came to her end.
33. When they come back from the dead, whose wife will she be? for all the seven had her.
34. And Jesus said to them, The sons of this world are married and have wives;
35. But those to whom is given the reward of the world to come, and to come back from the dead, have no wives, and are not married;
36. And death has no more power over them, for they are equal to the angels, and are sons of God, being of those who will come back from the dead.
37. But even Moses made it clear that the dead come back to life, saying, in the story of the burning thorn-tree, The Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
38. Now he is not the God of the dead but of the living: for all men are living to him.
39. And some of the scribes, in answer to this, said, Master, you have said well.
40. And they had fear of putting any more questions to him.
41. And he said to them, Why do they say that the Christ is the son of David?
42. For David himself says in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord, Take your seat at my right hand,
43. Till I put under your feet all those who are against you.
44. David then gives him the name of Lord, so how is it possible for him to be his son?
45. And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples,
46. Keep away from the scribes, whose pleasure it is to go about in long robes, and to have words of respect said to them in the market-places, and to take the chief seats in the Synagogues and the first places at feasts;
47. Who take the property of widows and before the eyes of men make long prayers; they will get a greater punishment.