Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Judges 12 / Basic English

1. Now the men of Ephraim came together and took up arms and went over to Zaphon; and they said to Jephthah, Why did you go over to make war against the children of Ammon without sending for us to go with you? Now we will put your house on fire over you.
2. And Jephthah said to them, I and my people were in danger, and the children of Ammon were very cruel to us, and when I sent for you, you gave me no help against them.
3. So when I saw that there was no help to be had from you, I put my life in my hand and went over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord gave them into my hands: why then have you come up to me this day to make war on me?
4. Then Jephthah got together all the men of Gilead and made war on Ephraim; and the men of Gilead overcame Ephraim.
5. And the Gileadites took the crossing-places of Jordan against the Ephraimites; and when any of the men of Ephraim who had gone in flight said, let me go over; the men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraimite? And if he said, No;
6. Then they said to him, Now say Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth, and was not able to say it in the right way; then they took him and put him to death at the crossing-places of Jordan; and at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites were put to death.
7. Now Jephthah was judge of Israel for six years. And Jephthah the Gileadite came to his death, and his body was put to rest in his town, Mizpeh of Gilead.
8. And after him, Ibzan of Beth-lehem was judge of Israel.
9. He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he sent to other places, and he got thirty wives from other places for his sons. And he was judge of Israel for seven years.
10. And Ibzan came to his death and his body was put to rest at Beth-lehem.
11. And after him, Elon the Zebulonite was judge of Israel; and he was judge of Israel for ten years.
12. And Elon the Zebulonite came to his death, and his body was put to rest in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
13. And after him, Abdon, the son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, was judge of Israel.
14. He had forty sons and thirty sons' sons who went on seventy young asses; and he was judge of Israel for eight years.
15. And Abdon, the son of Hillel, came to his death, and his body was put to rest in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill-country of the Amalekites.

Judges 13 / Basic English

1. And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
2. Now there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites, and his name was Manoah; and his wife had never given birth to a child.
3. And the angel of the Lord came to the woman, and said to her, See now! though you have never given birth to children, you will be with child and give birth to a son.
4. Now then take care to have no wine or strong drink and to take no unclean thing for food;
5. For you are with child and will give birth to a son; his hair is never to be cut, for the child is to be separate to God from his birth; and he will take up the work of freeing Israel from the hands of the Philistines.
6. Then the woman came in, and said to her husband, A man came to me, and his form was like the form of a god, causing great fear; I put no question to him about where he came from, and he did not give me his name;
7. But he said to me, You are with child and will give birth to a son; and now do not take any wine or strong drink or let anything unclean be your food; for the child will be separate to God from his birth to the day of his death.
8. Then Manoah made prayer to the Lord, and said, O Lord, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and make clear to us what we are to do for the child who is to come.
9. And God gave ear to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came to the woman again when she was seated in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.
10. So the woman, running quickly, gave her husband the news, saying, I have seen the man who came to me the other day.
11. And Manoah got up and went after his wife, and came up to the man and said to him, Are you the man who was talking to this woman? And he said, I am.
12. And Manoah said, Now when your words come true, what is to be the rule for the child and what will be his work?
13. And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Let the woman take note of what I have said to her.
14. She is to have nothing which comes from the vine for her food, and let her take no wine or strong drink or anything which is unclean; let her take care to do all I have given her orders to do.
15. And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, Now let us keep you while we make ready a young goat for you.
16. And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Though you keep me I will not take of your food; but if you will make a burned offering, let it be offered to the Lord. For it had not come into Manoah's mind that he was the angel of the Lord.
17. Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, What is your name, so that when your words come true we may give you honour?
18. But the angel of the Lord said to him, Why are you questioning me about my name, seeing that it is a wonder?
19. So Manoah took the young goat with its meal offering, offering it on the rock to the Lord, who did strange things.
20. And when the flame went up to heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar, while Manoah and his wife were looking on; and they went down on their faces to the earth.
21. But the angel of the Lord was seen no more by Manoah and his wife. Then it was clear to Manoah that he was the angel of the Lord.
22. And Manoah said to his wife, Death will certainly be our fate, for it is a god whom we have seen.
23. But his wife said to him, If the Lord was purposing our death, he would not have taken our burned offering and our meal offering, or have given us such orders about the child.
24. So the woman gave birth to a son, and gave him the name Samson; and he became a man and the blessing of the Lord was on him.
25. And the spirit of the Lord first came on him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Luke 23 / Basic English

1. And they all went and took him before Pilate.
2. And they made statements against him, saying, This man has to our knowledge been teaching our nation to do wrong, and not to make payment of taxes to Caesar, even saying that he himself is Christ, a king.
3. And Pilate said to him, Are you the King of the Jews? And he said in answer, You say so.
4. And Pilate said to the chief priests and the people, In my opinion this man has done no wrong.
5. But they became more violent than before, saying, He has made trouble among the people, teaching through all Judaea from Galilee to this place.
6. But at these words Pilate said, Is the man a Galilaean?
7. And when he saw that he was under the authority of Herod, he sent him to Herod, who was in Jerusalem himself at that time.
8. Now when Herod saw Jesus he was very glad, having for a long time had a desire to see him, for he had had accounts of him, and was hoping to see some wonders done by him.
9. And he put a great number of questions to him, but he said nothing.
10. And the chief priests and the scribes were there, making statements against him violently.
11. And Herod, with the men of his army, put shame on him and made sport of him, and dressing him in shining robes, he sent him back to Pilate.
12. And that day Herod and Pilate became friends with one another, for before they had been against one another.
13. And Pilate sent for the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them,
14. You say that this man has been teaching the people evil things: now I, after going into the question before you, see nothing wrong in this man in connection with the things which you have said against him:
15. And Herod is of the same opinion, for he has sent him back to us; for, you see, he has done nothing for which I might put him to death.
16. And so I will give him punishment and let him go.
17. []
18. But with loud voices they said all together, Put this man to death, and make Barabbas free.
19. Now this man was in prison because of an attack against the government in the town, in which there had been loss of life.
20. And Pilate again said to them that it was his desire to let Jesus go free.
21. But crying out they said, To the cross with him!
22. And he said to them a third time, Why, what evil has he done? I see no reason for putting him to death: I will give him punishment and let him go.
23. But they went on crying out loudly, Let him be put to death on the cross. And they had their way.
24. And Pilate gave his decision for their desire to be put into effect.
25. And in answer to their request, he let that man go free who had been in prison for acting against the government and causing death, and Jesus he gave up to their pleasure.
26. And while they were taking him away, they put their hands on Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and made him take the cross after Jesus.
27. And a great band of people went after him, and of women making signs of grief and weeping for him.
28. But Jesus, turning to them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, let not your weeping be for me, but for yourselves and for your children.
29. For the days are coming in which they will say, Happy are those who have had no children, whose bodies have never given birth, whose breasts have never given milk.
30. And they will say to the mountains, Come down on us, and to the hills, Be a cover over us.
31. For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will they do when it is dry?
32. And two others, evil-doers, were taken with him to be put to death.
33. And when they came to the place which is named Golgotha, they put him on the cross, and the evil-doers, one on the right side, and the other on the left.
34. And Jesus said, Father, let them have forgiveness, for they have no knowledge of what they are doing. And they made division of his clothing among them by the decision of chance.
35. And the people were looking on. And the rulers made sport of him, saying, He was a saviour of others; let him do something for himself, if he is the Christ, the man of God's selection.
36. And the men of the army made sport of him, coming to him and giving him bitter wine,
37. And saying, If you are the King of the Jews, get yourself free.
38. And these words were put in writing over him, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39. And one of the evil-doers on the cross, with bitter feeling, said to him, Are you not the Christ? Get yourself and us out of this.
40. But the other, protesting, said, Have you no fear of God? for you have a part in the same punishment,
41. And with reason; for we have the right reward of our acts, but this man has done nothing wrong.
42. And he said, Jesus, keep me in mind when you come in your kingdom.
43. And he said to him, Truly I say to you, Today you will be with me in Paradise.
44. And it was now about the sixth hour; and all the land was dark till the ninth hour;
45. The light of the sun went out, and the curtain in the Temple was parted in two.
46. And Jesus gave a loud cry and said, Father, into your hands I give my spirit: and when he had said this, he gave up his spirit.
47. And when the captain saw what was done, he gave praise to God, saying, Without doubt this was an upright man.
48. And all the people who had come together to see it, when they saw the things which were done, went back again making signs of grief.
49. And all his friends and the women who came with him from Galilee, were waiting at a distance, watching these things.
50. Now there was a man named Joseph, a man of authority and a good and upright man
51. (He had not given his approval to their decision or their acts), of Arimathaea, a town of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God:
52. This man went to Pilate and made a request for the body of Jesus.
53. And he took it down, and folding it in a linen cloth, he put it in a place cut in the rock for a dead body; and no one had ever been put in it.
54. Now it was the day of making ready and the Sabbath was coming on.
55. And the women who had come with him from Galilee went after him and saw the place and how his body had been put to rest;
56. And they went back and got ready spices and perfumes; and on the Sabbath they took their rest, in agreement with the law.