Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 34 / Basic English

1. Now Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had by Jacob, went out to see the women of that country.
2. And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite who was the chief of that land, saw her, he took her by force and had connection with her.
3. Then his heart went out in love to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he said comforting words to her.
4. And Shechem said to Hamor, his father, Get me this girl for my wife.
5. Now Jacob had word of what Shechem had done to his daughter; but his sons were in the fields with the cattle, and Jacob said nothing till they came.
6. Then Hamor, the father of Shechem, came out to have a talk with Jacob.
7. Now the sons of Jacob came in from the fields when they had news of it, and they were wounded and very angry because of the shame he had done in Israel by having connection with Jacob's daughter; and they said, Such a thing is not to be done.
8. But Hamor said to them, Shechem, my son, is full of desire for your daughter: will you then give her to him for a wife?
9. And let our two peoples be joined together; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10. Go on living with us, and the country will be open to you; do trade and get property there.
11. And Shechem said to her father and her brothers, If you will give ear to my request, whatever you say I will give to you.
12. However great you make the bride-price and payment, I will give it; only let me have the girl for my wife.
13. But the sons of Jacob gave a false answer to Shechem and Hamor his father, because of what had been done to Dinah their sister.
14. And they said, It is not possible for us to give our sister to one who is without circumcision, for that would be a cause of shame to us:
15. But on this condition only will we come to an agreement with you: if every male among you becomes like us and undergoes circumcision;
16. Then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters to us and go on living with you as one people.
17. But if you will not undergo circumcision as we say, then we will take our daughter and go.
18. And their words were pleasing to Hamor and his son Shechem.
19. And without loss of time the young man did as they said, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was the noblest of his father's house.
20. Then Hamor and Shechem, his son, went to the meeting-place of their town, and said to the men of the town,
21. It is the desire of these men to be at peace with us; let them then go on living in this country and doing trade here, for the country is wide open before them; let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters.
22. But these men will make an agreement with us to go on living with us and to become one people, only on the condition that every male among us undergoes circumcision as they have done.
23. Then will not their cattle and their goods and all their beasts be ours? so let us come to an agreement with them so that they may go on living with us.
24. Then all the men of the town gave ear to the words of Hamor and Shechem his son; and every male in the town underwent circumcision.
25. But on the third day after, before the wounds were well, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came into the town by surprise and put all the males to death.
26. And Hamor and his son they put to death with the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away.
27. And the sons of Jacob came on them when they were wounded and made waste the town because of what had been done to their sister;
28. They took their flocks and their herds and their asses and everything in their town and in their fields,
29. And all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives; everything in their houses they took and made them waste.
30. And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and because we are small in number they will come together against me and make war on me; and it will be the end of me and all my people.
31. But they said, Were we to let him make use of our sister as a loose woman?

Genesis 35 / Basic English

1. And God said to Jacob, Go up now to Beth-el and make your living-place there: and put up an altar there to the God who came to you when you were in flight from your brother Esau.
2. Then Jacob said to all his people, Put away the strange gods which are among you, and make yourselves clean, and put on a change of clothing:
3. And let us go up to Beth-el: and there I will make an altar to God, who gave me an answer in the day of my trouble, and was with me wherever I went.
4. Then they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob put them away under the holy tree at Shechem.
5. So they went on their journey: and the fear of God was on the towns round about, so that they made no attack on the sons of Jacob.
6. And Jacob came to Luz in the land of Canaan (which is the same as Beth-el), he and all his people.
7. And there he made an altar, naming the place El-beth-el: because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother.
8. And Deborah, the servant who had taken care of Rebekah from her birth, came to her end, and was put to rest near Beth-el, under the holy tree: and they gave it the name of Allon-bacuth.
9. Now when Jacob was on his way from Paddan-aram, God came to him again and, blessing him, said,
10. Jacob is your name, but it will be so no longer; from now your name will be Israel; so he was named Israel.
11. And God said to him, I am God, the Ruler of all: be fertile, and have increase; a nation, truly a group of nations, will come from you, and kings will be your offspring;
12. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you; and to your seed after you I will give the land.
13. Then God went up from him in the place where he had been talking with him.
14. And Jacob put up a pillar in the place where he had been talking with God, and put a drink offering on it, and oil.
15. And he gave to the place where God had been talking with him, the name of Beth-el.
16. So they went on from Beth-el; and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, the pains of birth came on Rachel and she had a hard time.
17. And when her pain was very great, the woman who was helping her said, Have no fear; for now you will have another son.
18. And in the hour when her life went from her (for death came to her), she gave the child the name Ben-oni: but his father gave him the name of Benjamin.
19. So Rachel came to her end and was put to rest on the road to Ephrath (which is Beth-lehem).
20. And Jacob put up a pillar on her resting-place; which is named, The Pillar of the resting-place of Rachel, to this day.
21. And Israel went journeying on and put up his tents on the other side of the tower of the flock.
22. Now while they were living in that country, Reuben had connection with Bilhah, his father's servant-woman: and Israel had news of it.
23. Now Jacob had twelve sons: the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's first son, and Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun;
24. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;
25. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali;
26. The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher; these are the sons whom Jacob had in Paddan-aram.
27. And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had been living.
28. And Isaac was a hundred and eighty years old.
29. Then Isaac came to his end and was put to rest with his father's people, an old man after a long life: and Jacob and Esau, his sons, put him in his last resting-place.

Matthew 20 / Basic English

1. For the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a house, who went out early in the morning to get workers into his vine-garden.
2. And when he had made an agreement with the workmen for a penny a day, he sent them into his vine-garden.
3. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others in the market-place doing nothing;
4. And he said to them, Go into the vine-garden with the others, and whatever is right I will give you. And they went to work.
5. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same.
6. And about the eleventh hour he went out and saw others doing nothing; and he says to them, Why are you here all the day doing nothing?
7. They say to him, Because no man has given us work. He says to them, Go in with the rest, into the vine-garden.
8. And when evening came, the lord of the vine-garden said to his manager, Let the workers come, and give them their payment, from the last to the first.
9. And when those men came who had gone to work at the eleventh hour, they were given every man a penny.
10. Then those who came first had the idea that they would get more; and they, like the rest, were given a penny.
11. And when they got it, they made a protest against the master of the house,
12. Saying, These last have done only one hour's work, and you have made them equal to us, who have undergone the hard work of the day and the burning heat.
13. But he in answer said to one of them, Friend, I do you no wrong: did you not make an agreement with me for a penny?
14. Take what is yours, and go away; it is my pleasure to give to this last, even as to you.
15. Have I not the right to do as seems good to me in my house? or is your eye evil, because I am good?
16. So the last will be first, and the first last.
17. And when Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples on one side, and said to them,
18. See, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be given into the hands of the chief priests and scribes; and they will give orders for him to be put to death,
19. And will give him up to the Gentiles to be made sport of and to be whipped and to be put to death on the cross: and the third day he will come back again from the dead.
20. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, giving him worship and making a request of him.
21. And he said to her, What is your desire? She says to him, Let my two sons be seated, the one at your right hand, and the other at your left, in your kingdom.
22. But Jesus made answer and said, You have no idea what you are requesting. Are you able to take of the cup which I am about to take?
23. They say to him, We are able. He says to them, Truly, you will take of my cup: but to be seated at my right hand and at my left is not for me to give, but it is for those for whom my Father has made it ready.
24. And when it came to the ears of the ten, they were angry with the two brothers.
25. But Jesus said to them, You see that the rulers of the Gentiles are lords over them, and their great ones have authority over them.
26. Let it not be so among you: but if anyone has a desire to become great among you, let him be your servant;
27. And whoever has a desire to be first among you, let him take the lowest place:
28. Even as the Son of man did not come to have servants, but to be a servant, and to give his life for the salvation of men.
29. And when they were going out from Jericho, a great number went after him.
30. And two blind men seated by the wayside, when they had the news that Jesus was going by, gave a loud cry, saying, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us.
31. And the people gave them orders to be quiet; but they went on crying even louder, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us.
32. And Jesus, stopping, sent for them, and said, What would you have me do to you?
33. They say to him, Lord, that our eyes may be open.
34. And Jesus, being moved with pity, put his fingers on their eyes: and straight away they were able to see, and went after him.