Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Ruth 2 / Basic English

1. And Naomi had a relation of her husband, a man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.
2. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Now let me go into the field and take up the heads of grain after him in whose eyes I may have grace. And she said to her, Go, my daughter.
3. And she went, and came and took up the heads of grain in the field after the cutters; and by chance she went into that part of the field which was the property of Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
4. And Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said to the grain-cutters, The Lord be with you. And they made answer, The Lord give you his blessing.
5. Then Boaz said to his servant who was in authority over the cutters, Whose girl is this?
6. And the servant who was in authority over the cutters said, It is a Moabite girl who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab;
7. And she said to me, Let me come into the grain-field and take up the grain after the cutters. So she came, and has been here from morning till now, without resting even for a minute.
8. Then said Boaz to Ruth, Give ear to me, my daughter: do not go to take up the grain in another field, or go away from here, but keep here by my young women:
9. Keep your eyes on the field they are cutting, and go after them; have I not given orders to the young men not to put a hand on you? And when you are in need of drink go to the vessels and take of what the young men have put there.
10. Then she went down on her face to the earth, and said to him, Why have I grace in your eyes, that you give attention to me, seeing I am from a strange people?
11. And Boaz answering said to her, I have had news of everything you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband; how you went away from your father and mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people who are strange to you.
12. The Lord give you a reward for what you have done, and may a full reward be given to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take cover.
13. Then she said, May I have grace in your eyes, my lord, for you have given me comfort, and you have said kind words to your servant, though I am not like one of your servants.
14. And at meal-time Boaz said to her, Come here, and take some of the bread, and put your bit into the wine. And she took her seat among the grain-cutters: and he gave her dry grain, and she took it, and there was more than enough for her meal.
15. And when she got ready to take up the grain, Boaz gave his young men orders, saying, Let her take it even from among the cut grain, and say nothing to her.
16. And let some heads of grain be pulled out of what has been corded up, and dropped for her to take, and let no sharp word be said to her.
17. So she went on getting together the heads of grain till evening; and after crushing out the seed it came to about an ephah of grain.
18. And she took it up and went into the town; and she let her mother-in-law see what she had got, and after taking enough for herself she gave her the rest.
19. And her mother-in-law said to her, Where did you take up the grain today, and where were you working? May a blessing be on him who gave such attention to you. And she gave her mother-in-law an account of where she had been working, and said, The name of the man with whom I was working today is Boaz.
20. And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, May the blessing of the Lord, who has at all times been kind to the living and to the dead, be on him. And Naomi said to her, The man is of our family, one of our near relations.
21. And Ruth the Moabitess said, Truly, he said to me, Keep near my young men till all my grain is cut.
22. And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It is better, my daughter, for you to go out with his servant-girls, so that no danger may come to you in another field.
23. So she kept near the servant-girls of Boaz to take up the grain till the cutting of the early grain and the cutting of the late grain were ended; and she went on living with her mother-in-law.

Ruth 3 / Basic English

1. And Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, am I not to get you a resting-place where you may be in comfort?
2. And now, is there not Boaz, our relation, with whose young women you were? See, tonight he is separating the grain from the waste in his grain-floor.
3. So take a bath, and, after rubbing your body with sweet oil, put on your best robe, and go down to the grain-floor; but do not let him see you till he has come to the end of his meal.
4. But see to it, when he goes to rest, that you take note of the place where he is sleeping, and go in there, and, uncovering his feet, take your place by him; and he will say what you are to do.
5. And she said, I will do all you say.
6. So she went down to the grain-floor and did all her mother-in-law had said to her.
7. Now when Boaz had taken meat and drink, and his heart was glad, he went to take his rest at the end of the mass of grain; then she came softly and, uncovering his feet, went to rest.
8. Now in the middle of the night, the man awaking from his sleep in fear, and lifting himself up, saw a woman stretched at his feet.
9. And he said, Who are you? And she answering said, I am your servant Ruth: take your servant as wife, for you are a near relation.
10. And he said, May the Lord give you his blessing, my daughter: even better than what you did at the first is this last kind act you have done, in not going after young men, with or without wealth.
11. And now, my daughter, have no fear; I will do for you whatever you say: for it is clear to all my townspeople that you are a woman of virtue.
12. Now it is true that I am a near relation: but there is a relation nearer than I.
13. Take your rest here tonight; and in the morning, if he will do for you what it is right for a relation to do, very well, let him do so: but if he will not, then by the living Lord I myself will do so.
14. And she took her rest at his feet till the morning: and she got up before it was light enough for one to see another. And he said, Let it not come to anyone's knowledge that the woman came to the grain-floor.
15. And he said, Take your robe, stretching it out in your hands: and she did so, and he took six measures of grain and put them into it, and gave it her to take: and she went back to the town.
16. And when she came back her mother-in-law said to her, How did it go with you, my daughter? And she gave her an account of all the man had done to her.
17. And she said, He gave me these six measures of grain, saying, Do not go back to your mother-in-law with nothing in your hands.
18. Then she said, Do nothing now, my daughter, till you see what will come of this; for the man will take no rest till he has put this thing through.

Psalms 106 / Basic English

1. Let the Lord be praised. O give praise to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy is unchanging for ever.
2. Who is able to give an account of the great acts of the Lord, or to make clear all his praise?
3. Happy are they whose decisions are upright, and he who does righteousness at all times.
4. Keep me in mind, O Lord, when you are good to your people; O let your salvation come to me;
5. So that I may see the well-being of the people of your selection, and have a part in the joy of your nation, and take pride in your heritage.
6. We are sinners like our fathers, we have done wrong, our acts are evil.
7. Our fathers did not give thought to your wonders in Egypt; they did not keep in memory the great number of your mercies, but gave you cause for wrath at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
8. But he was their saviour because of his name, so that men might see his great power.
9. By his word the Red Sea was made dry: and he took them through the deep waters as through the waste land.
10. And he took them safely out of the hands of their haters, and kept them from the attacks of those who were against them.
11. And the waters went over their haters; all of them came to an end.
12. Then they had faith in his words; they gave him songs of praise.
13. But their memory of his works was short; not waiting to be guided by him,
14. They gave way to their evil desires in the waste land, and put God to the test in the dry places.
15. And he gave them their request, but sent a wasting disease into their souls.
16. They were full of envy against Moses among the tents, and against Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.
17. The earth opening put an end to Dathan, covering up Abiram and his band.
18. And a fire was lighted among their tents; the sinners were burned up by the flames.
19. They made a young ox in Horeb, and gave worship to an image of gold.
20. And their glory was changed into the image of an ox, whose food is grass.
21. They had no memory of God their saviour, who had done great things in Egypt;
22. Works of wonder in the land of Ham, and things of fear by the Red Sea.
23. And he was purposing to put an end to them if Moses, his special servant, had not gone up before him, between him and his people, turning back his wrath, to keep them from destruction.
24. They were disgusted with the good land; they had no belief in his word;
25. Talking against him secretly in their tents, they did not give ear to the voice of the Lord.
26. So he made an oath against them, to put an end to them in the waste land:
27. That their children might be mixed among the nations, and sent away into other lands.
28. And they were joined to Baal-peor, and took part in the offerings to the dead.
29. So they made him angry by their behaviour; and he sent disease on them.
30. Then Phinehas got up, and made prayer for them; and the disease went no farther.
31. And all the generations coming after him kept the memory of his righteousness for ever.
32. They made God angry again at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled because of them;
33. For they made his spirit bitter, and he said unwise things.
34. They did not put an end to the peoples, as the Lord had said;
35. But they were joined to the nations, learning their works.
36. And they gave worship to images; which were a danger to them:
37. They even made offerings of their sons and their daughters to evil spirits,
38. And gave the blood of their sons and their daughters who had done no wrong, offering them to the images of Canaan; and the land was made unclean with blood.
39. So they became unclean through their works, going after their evil desires.
40. Then the wrath of the Lord was burning against his people, and he was angry with his heritage.
41. And he gave them into the hands of the nations; and they were ruled by their haters.
42. By them they were crushed, and made low under their hands.
43. Again and again he made them free; but their hearts were turned against his purpose, and they were overcome by their sins.
44. But when their cry came to his ears, he had pity on their trouble:
45. And kept in mind his agreement with them, and in his great mercy gave them forgiveness.
46. He put pity into the hearts of those who made them prisoners.
47. Be our saviour, O Lord our God, and let us come back together from among the nations, so that we may give honour to your holy name, and have glory in your praise.
48. Praise be to the Lord God of Israel for ever and for ever; and let all the people say, So be it. Give praise to the Lord.