Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Ezra 3 / Basic English

1. And when the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people came together like one man to Jerusalem.
2. Then Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, with his brothers, got up and made the altar of the God of Israel for burned offerings as is recorded in the law of Moses, the man of God.
3. They put the altar on its base; for fear was on them because of the people of the countries: and they made burned offerings on it to the Lord, even burned offerings morning and evening.
4. And they kept the feast of tents, as it is recorded, making the regular burned offerings every day by number, as it is ordered; for every day what was needed.
5. And after that, the regular burned offering and the offerings for the new moons and all the fixed feasts of the Lord which had been made holy, and the offering of everyone who freely gave his offering to the Lord.
6. From the first day of the seventh month they made a start with the burned offerings, but the base of the Temple of the Lord had still not been put in its place.
7. And they gave money to the stoneworkers and woodworkers; and meat and drink and oil to the people of Zidon and of Tyre, for the transport of cedar-trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, as Cyrus, king of Persia, had given them authority to do.
8. Now in the second year of their coming into the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, the work was taken in hand by Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come from the land where they were prisoners to Jerusalem: and they made the Levites, of twenty years old and over, responsible for overseeing the work of the house of the Lord.
9. Then Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, the sons of Hodaviah, together took up the work of overseeing the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brothers, the Levites.
10. And when the builders put in position the base of the Temple of the Lord, the priests, dressed in their robes, took their places with horns, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with brass instruments, to give praise to the Lord in the way ordered by David, king of Israel.
11. And they gave praise to the Lord, answering one another in their songs and saying, For he is good, for his mercy to Israel is eternal. And all the people gave a great cry of joy, when they gave praise to the Lord, because the base of the Lord's house was put in place.
12. But a number of the priests and Levites and the heads of families, old men who had seen the first house, when the base of this house was put down before their eyes, were overcome with weeping; and a number were crying out with joy:
13. So that in the ears of the people the cry of joy was mixed with the sound of weeping; for the cries of the people were loud and came to the ears of those who were a long way off.

Ezra 4 / Basic English

1. Now news came to the haters of Judah and Benjamin that the people who had come back were building a Temple to the Lord, the God of Israel;
2. Then they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of families, and said to them, Let us take part in the building with you; for we are servants of your God, even as you are; and we have been making offerings to him from the days of Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, who put us here.
3. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of families in Israel said to them, You have no part with us in the building of a house for our God; we ourselves will do the work together for the Lord, the God of Israel, as Cyrus, king of Persia, has given us orders.
4. Then the people of the land made the hands of the people of Judah feeble, troubling them with fear in their building;
5. And they gave payment to men who made designs against them and kept them from effecting their purpose, all through the time of Cyrus, king of Persia, till Darius became king.
6. And in the time of Ahasuerus, when he first became king, they put on record a statement against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
7. And in the time of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his friends, sent a letter to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, writing it in the Aramaean writing and language.
8. Rehum, the chief ruler, and Shimshai the scribe, sent a letter against Jerusalem, to Artaxerxes the king;
9. The letter was sent by Rehum, the chief ruler, and Shimshai the scribe and their friends; the Dinaites and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites,
10. And the rest of the nations which the great and noble Osnappar took over and put in Samaria and the rest of the country over the river:
11. This is a copy of the letter which they sent to Artaxerxes the king: Your servants living across the river send these words:
12. We give news to the king that the Jews who came from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are building up again that uncontrolled and evil town; the walls are complete and they are joining up the bases.
13. The king may be certain that when the building of this town and its walls is complete, they will give no tax or payment in goods or forced payments, and in the end it will be a cause of loss to the kings.
14. Now because we are responsible to the king, and it is not right for us to see the king's honour damaged, we have sent to give the king word of these things,
15. So that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers: and you will see in the book of the records that this town has been uncontrolled, and a cause of trouble to kings and countries, and that there were outbursts against authority there in the past: for which reason the town was made waste.
16. We give you word, that if the building of this town and its walls is made complete, there will be an end of your power in the country across the river.
17. Then the king sent an answer to Rehum, the chief ruler, and Shimshai the scribe, and their friends living in Samaria, and to the rest of those across the river, saying, Peace to you:
18. And now the sense of the letter which you sent to us has been made clear to me,
19. And I gave orders for a search to be made, and it is certain that in the past this town has made trouble for kings, and that outbursts against authority have taken place there.
20. Further, there have been great kings in Jerusalem, ruling over all the country across the river, to whom they gave taxes and payments in goods and forced payments.
21. Give an order now, that these men are to do nothing more, and that the building of the town is to be stopped, till I give an order.
22. Be certain to do this with all care: do not let trouble be increased to the king's damage.
23. Then, after reading the king's letter, Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their friends went quickly to Jerusalem, to the Jews, and had them stopped by force.
24. So the work of the house of God at Jerusalem came to an end; so it was stopped, till the second year of the rule of Darius, king of Persia.

Ezra 5 / Basic English

1. Now the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Iddo, were preaching to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel.
2. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, got up and made a start at building the house of God at Jerusalem: and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.
3. At the same time, Tattenai, ruler of the land across the river, and Shethar-bozenai, and their men, came to them and said, Who gave you orders to go on building this house and this wall?
4. Then they said these words to them: What are the names of the men who are at work on this building?
5. But the eye of their God was on the chiefs of the Jews, and they did not make them give up working till the question had been put before Darius and an answer had come by letter about it.
6. This is a copy of the letter which Tattenai, the ruler of the land across the river, and Shethar-bozenai and his friends the Apharsachites, living across the river, sent to Darius the king:
7. They sent him a letter saying, To Darius the king, all peace:
8. This is to give the king word that we went into the land of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is made of great stones, and has its walls supported with wood, and the work is going on with industry, and they are doing it well.
9. Then we said to the men responsible, who gave you authority for the building of this house and these walls?
10. And we made request for their names, so that we might send you word, and give you the names of the men at the head of them.
11. And they made answer to us, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building the house which was put up in times long past and was designed and made complete by a great king of Israel.
12. But when the God of heaven was moved to wrath by our fathers, he gave them up into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldaean, who sent destruction on this house and took the people away into Babylon.
13. But in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, Cyrus the king gave an order for the building of this house of God;
14. And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the Temple which was in Jerusalem, and put into the house of his god in Babylon, these Cyrus the king took from the house of his god in Babylon, and gave to one named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made ruler;
15. And he said to him, Go, take these vessels, and put them in the Temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be put up again in its place.
16. Then this same Sheshbazzar came and put the house of God in Jerusalem on its bases: and from that time till now the building has been going on, but it is still not complete.
17. So now, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the king's store-house at Babylon, to see if it is true that an order was given by Cyrus the king for the building of this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send us word of his pleasure in connection with this business.

Acts 13 / Basic English

1. Now there were at Antioch, in the church there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas, and Symeon who was named Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, a relation of Herod the king, and Saul.
2. And while they were doing the Lord's work, and going without food, the Holy Spirit said, Let Barnabas and Saul be given to me for the special work for which they have been marked out by me.
3. Then, after prayer and going without food they put their hands on them, and sent them away.
4. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they went by ship to Cyprus.
5. And at Salamis they were preaching the word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews: and John was with them, helping them.
6. And when they had gone through all the island to Paphos, they came across a certain wonder-worker and false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus;
7. Who was with the ruler, Sergius Paulus, an able man. This man sent for Barnabas and Saul, desiring to have knowledge of the word of God.
8. But Elymas, the wonder-worker (for that is the sense of his name), put himself against them, with the purpose of turning the ruler from the faith.
9. But Saul, whose other name is Paul, being full of the Holy Spirit, looking hard at him, said,
10. O you, who are full of false tricks and evil ways, a son of the Evil One, hating all righteousness, will you for ever be turning people from the right ways of the Lord?
11. And now, see, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind and not able to see the sun for a time. And straight away a dark mist came down on him; and he went about looking for a guide.
12. Then the ruler, when he saw what was done, had faith, being full of wonder at the teaching of the Lord.
13. Then Paul and those who were with him went by ship from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia: and there John went away from them and came back to Jerusalem.
14. But they, going through from Perga, came to Antioch in Pisidia; and they went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath and were seated.
15. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the Synagogue sent to them, saying, Brothers, if you have a word of comfort for the people, say on.
16. And Paul, getting up and making a sign with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and you who have the fear of God, give ear.
17. The God of this people Israel made selection of our fathers, lifting the people up from their low condition when they were living in the land of Egypt, and with a strong arm took them out of it.
18. And for about forty years he put up with their ways in the waste land.
19. And having put to destruction seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them the land for their heritage for about four hundred and fifty years.
20. And after these things he gave them judges, till the time of Samuel the prophet.
21. Then at their request for a king, God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the family of Benjamin, who was their king for forty years.
22. And having put him on one side, he made David their king, to whom he gave witness, saying, I have taken David, the son of Jesse, a man dear to my heart, who will do all my pleasure.
23. From this man's seed has God given to Israel a Saviour, even Jesus, as he gave his word;
24. For whose coming John made ready the way by preaching to all the people of Israel the baptism which goes with a change of heart.
25. And when John was completing his work, he said, What do I seem to you to be? I am not he; but one is coming after me, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo.
26. My brothers, children of the family of Abraham, and those among you who have the fear of God, to us the word of this salvation is sent.
27. For the men of Jerusalem and their rulers, having no knowledge of him, or of the sayings of the prophets which come to their ears every Sabbath day, gave effect to them by judging him.
28. And though no cause of death was seen in him, they made a request to Pilate that he might be put to death.
29. And when they had done all the things said in the Writings about him, they took him down from the tree, and put him in the place of the dead.
30. But God gave him back from the dead:
31. And for a number of days he was seen by those who came with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses before the people.
32. And we are giving you the good news of the undertaking made to the fathers,
33. Which God has now put into effect for our children, by sending Jesus; as it says in the second Psalm, You are my Son; this day I have given you being.
34. And about his coming back from the dead, never again to go to destruction, he has said these words, I will give you the holy and certain mercies of David.
35. Because he says in another Psalm, You will not let your Holy One see destruction.
36. Now David, having done God's work for his generation, went to sleep, and was put with his fathers, and his body came to destruction:
37. But he, who was lifted up by God, did not see destruction.
38. And so, let it be clear to you, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is offered to you:
39. And through him everyone who has faith is made free from all those things, from which the law of Moses was not able to make you free.
40. So take care that these words of the prophets do not come true for you;
41. See, you doubters, have wonder and come to your end; for I will do a thing in your days to which you will not give belief, even if it is made clear to you.
42. And when they went out, they made a request that these words might be said to them again on the Sabbath after.
43. Now when the meeting was ended, a number of the Jews and of the God-fearing Gentiles who had become Jews, went after Paul and Barnabas: who put before them how important it was to keep on in the grace of God.
44. And on the Sabbath after, almost all the town came together to give hearing to the word of God.
45. But when the Jews saw such a great number of people, they were full of envy and said evil words against Paul's preaching.
46. Then Paul and Barnabas without fear said, It was necessary for the word of God to be given to you first; but because you will have nothing to do with it, and have no desire for eternal life, it will now be offered to the Gentiles.
47. For so the Lord has given us orders, saying, I have given you for a light to the Gentiles so that you may be for salvation to the ends of the earth.
48. And the Gentiles, hearing this, were glad and gave glory to the word of God: and those marked out by God for eternal life had faith.
49. And the word of the Lord went through all the country.
50. But the Jews, working up the feelings of the God-fearing women of high position and of the chief men of the town, got an attack started against Paul and Barnabas, driving them out of those parts.
51. But they, shaking off the dust of that place from their feet, came to Iconium.
52. And the disciples were full of joy and of the Holy Spirit.