Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 28 / Basic English

1. Then Isaac sent for Jacob, and blessing him, said, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan;
2. But go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.
3. And may God, the Ruler of all, give you his blessing, giving you fruit and increase, so that you may become an army of peoples.
4. And may God give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed, so that the land of your wanderings, which God gave to Abraham, may be your heritage.
5. So Isaac sent Jacob away: and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramaean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6. So when Esau saw that Isaac had given Jacob his blessing, and sent him away to Paddan-aram to get a wife for himself there, blessing him and saying to him, Do not take a wife from among the women of Canaan;
7. And that Jacob had done as his father and mother said and had gone to Paddan-aram;
8. It was clear to Esau that his father had no love for the women of Canaan,
9. So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.
10. So Jacob went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.
11. And coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head he went to sleep in that place.
12. And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them.
13. And he saw the Lord by his side, saying, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac: I will give to you and to your seed this land on which you are sleeping.
14. Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.
15. And truly, I will be with you, and will keep you wherever you go, guiding you back again to this land; and I will not give you up till I have done what I have said to you.
16. And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said, Truly, the Lord is in this place and I was not conscious of it.
17. And fear came on him, and he said, This is a holy place; this is nothing less than the house of God and the doorway of heaven.
18. And early in the morning Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it.
19. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el, but before that time the town was named Luz.
20. Then Jacob took an oath, and said, If God will be with me, and keep me safe on my journey, and give me food and clothing to put on,
21. So that I come again to my father's house in peace, then I will take the Lord to be my God,
22. And this stone which I have put up for a pillar will be God's house: and of all you give me, I will give a tenth part to you.

Genesis 29 / Basic English

1. Then Jacob went on his journey till he came to the land of the children of the East.
2. And there he saw a water-hole in a field, and by the side of it three flocks of sheep, for there they got water for the sheep: and on the mouth of the water-hole there was a great stone.
3. And all the flocks would come together there, and when the stone had been rolled away, they would give the sheep water, and put the stone back again in its place on the mouth of the water-hole.
4. Then Jacob said to the herdmen, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, From Haran.
5. And he said to them, Have you any knowledge of Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, We have.
6. And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep.
7. Then Jacob said, The sun is still high and it is not time to get the cattle together: get water for the sheep and go and give them their food.
8. And they said, We are not able to do so till all the flocks have come together and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the water-hole; then we will get water for the sheep.
9. While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she took care of them.
10. Then when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, coming with Laban's sheep, he came near, and rolling the stone away from the mouth of the hole, he got water for Laban's flock.
11. And weeping for joy, Jacob gave Rachel a kiss.
12. And Rachel, hearing from Jacob that he was her father's relation and that he was the son of Rebekah, went running to give her father news of it.
13. And Laban, hearing news of Jacob, his sister's son, came running, and took Jacob in his arms, and kissing him, made him come into his house. And Jacob gave him news of everything.
14. And Laban said to him, Truly, you are my bone and my flesh. And he kept Jacob with him for the space of a month.
15. Then Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother are you to be my servant for nothing? say now, what is your payment to be?
16. Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17. And Leah's eyes were clouded, but Rachel was fair in face and form.
18. And Jacob was in love with Rachel; and he said, I will be your servant seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.
19. And Laban said, It is better for you to have her than another man: go on living here with me.
20. And Jacob did seven years' work for Rachel; and because of his love for her it seemed to him only a very little time.
21. Then Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife so that I may have her, for the days are ended.
22. And Laban got together all the men of the place and gave a feast.
23. And in the evening he took Leah, his daughter, and gave her to him, and he went in to her.
24. And Laban gave Zilpah, his servant-girl, to Leah, to be her waiting-woman.
25. And in the morning Jacob saw that it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What have you done to me? was I not working for you so that I might have Rachel? why have you been false to me?
26. And Laban said, In our country we do not let the younger daughter be married before the older.
27. Let the week of the bride-feast come to its end and then we will give you the other in addition, if you will be my servant for another seven years.
28. And Jacob did so; and when the week was ended, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel for his wife.
29. And Laban gave Rachel his servant-girl Bilhah to be her waiting-woman.
30. Then Jacob took Rachel as his wife, and his love for her was greater than his love for Leah; and he went on working for Laban for another seven years.
31. Now the Lord, seeing that Leah was not loved, gave her a child; while Rachel had no children.
32. And Leah was with child, and gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name Reuben: for she said, The Lord has seen my sorrow; now my husband will have love for me.
33. Then she became with child again, and gave birth to a son; and said, Because it has come to the Lord's ears that I am not loved, he has given me this son in addition: and she gave him the name Simeon.
34. And she was with child again, and gave birth to a son; and said, Now at last my husband will be united to me, because I have given him three sons: so he was named Levi.
35. And she was with child again, and gave birth to a son: and she said, This time I will give praise to the Lord: so he was named Judah; after this she had no more children for a time.

Matthew 16 / Basic English

1. And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and, testing him, made a request to him to give them a sign from heaven.
2. But in answer he said to them, At nightfall you say, The weather will be good, for the sky is red.
3. And in the morning, The weather will be bad today, for the sky is red and angry. You are able to see the face of heaven, but not the signs of the times.
4. An evil and false generation is searching after a sign; and no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. And he went away from them.
5. And when the disciples came to the other side they had not taken thought to get bread.
6. And Jesus said to them, Take care to have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
7. And they were reasoning among themselves, saying, We took no bread.
8. And Jesus, seeing it, said, O you of little faith, why are you reasoning among yourselves, because you have no bread?
9. Do you still not see, or keep in mind the five cakes of bread of the five thousand, and the number of baskets you took up?
10. Or the seven cakes of bread of the four thousand, and the number of baskets you took up?
11. How is it that you do not see that I was not talking to you about bread, but about keeping away from the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?
12. Then they saw that it was not the leaven of bread which he had in mind, but the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13. Now when Jesus had come into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he said, questioning his disciples, Who do men say that the Son of man is?
14. And they said, Some say, John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
15. He says to them, But who do you say that I am?
16. And Simon Peter made answer and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17. And Jesus made answer and said to him, A blessing on you, Simon Bar-jonah: because this knowledge has not come to you from flesh and blood, but from my Father in heaven.
18. And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock will my church be based, and the doors of hell will not overcome it.
19. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever is fixed by you on earth will be fixed in heaven: and whatever you make free on earth will be made free in heaven.
20. Then he gave orders to the disciples to give no man word that he was the Christ.
21. From that time Jesus went on to make clear to his disciples how he would have to go up to Jerusalem, and undergo much at the hands of those in authority and the chief priests and scribes, and be put to death, and the third day come again from the dead.
22. And Peter, protesting, said to him, Be it far from you, Lord; it is impossible that this will come about.
23. But he, turning to Peter, said, Get out of my way, Satan: you are a danger to me because your mind is not on the things of God, but on the things of men.
24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him give up all, and take up his cross, and come after me.
25. Because whoever has a desire to keep his life safe will have it taken from him; but whoever gives up his life because of me, will have it given back to him.
26. For what profit has a man, if he gets all the world with the loss of his life? or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
27. For the Son of man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he will give to every man the reward of his works.
28. Truly I say to you, There are some of those here who will not have a taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.