Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 39 / Basic English

1. Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar the Egyptian, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house, got him for a price from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
2. And the Lord was with Joseph, and he did well; and he was living in the house of his master the Egyptian.
3. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, making everything he did go well.
4. And having a high opinion of Joseph as his servant, he made him the overseer of his house and gave him control over all he had.
5. And from the time when he made him overseer and gave him control of all his property, the blessing of the Lord was with the Egyptian, because of Joseph; the blessing of the Lord was on all he had, in the house and in the field.
6. And he gave Joseph control of all his property, keeping no account of anything, but only the food which was put before him. Now Joseph was very beautiful in form and face.
7. And after a time, his master's wife, looking on Joseph with desire, said to him, Be my lover.
8. But he would not, and said to her, You see that my master keeps no account of what I do in his house, and has put all his property in my control;
9. So that no one has more authority in this house than I have; he has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife; how then may I do this great wrong, sinning against God?
10. And day after day she went on requesting Joseph to come to her and be her lover, but he would not give ear to her.
11. Now one day he went into the house to do his work; and not one of the men of the house was inside.
12. And pulling at his coat, she said, Come to my bed; but slipping out of his coat, he went running away.
13. And when she saw that he had got away, letting her keep his coat,
14. She sent for the men of her house and said to them, See, he has let a Hebrew come here and make sport of us; he came to my bed, and I gave a loud cry;
15. And hearing it he went running out without his coat.
16. And she kept his coat by her, till his master came back.
17. Then she gave him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you have taken into our house came in to make sport of me;
18. And when I gave a loud cry he went running out without his coat.
19. And hearing his wife's account of what his servant had done, he became very angry.
20. And Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, in the place where the king's prisoners were kept in chains, and he was there in the prison-house.
21. But the Lord was with Joseph, and was good to him, and made the keeper of the prison his friend.
22. And the keeper of the prison put all the prisoners under Joseph's control, and he was responsible for whatever was done there.
23. And the keeper of the prison gave no attention to anything which was under his care, because the Lord was with him; and the Lord made everything he did go well.

Genesis 40 / Basic English

1. Now after these things the chief servant who had the care of the wine, and the chief bread-maker in Pharaoh's house, did something against Pharaoh's orders;
2. And Pharaoh was angry with his two servants, with the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker;
3. And he put them in prison under the care of the captain of the army, in the same prison where Joseph himself was shut up.
4. And the captain put them in Joseph's care, and he did what was needed for them; and they were kept in prison for some time.
5. And these two had a dream on the same night; the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker of the king of Egypt, who were in prison, the two of them had dreams with a special sense.
6. And in the morning when Joseph came to them he saw that they were looking sad.
7. And he said to the servants of Pharaoh who were in prison with him, Why are you looking so sad?
8. Then they said to him, We have had a dream, and no one is able to give us the sense. And Joseph said, Does not the sense of dreams come from God? what was your dream?
9. Then the chief wine-servant gave Joseph an account of his dream, and said, In my dream I saw a vine before me;
10. And on the vine were three branches; and it seemed as if it put out buds and flowers, and from them came grapes ready for cutting.
11. And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and crushing them into Pharaoh's cup, gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.
12. Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream: the three branches are three days;
13. After three days Pharaoh will give you honour, and put you back into your place, and you will give him his cup as you did before, when you were his wine-servant.
14. But keep me in mind when things go well for you, and be good to me and say a good word for me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison:
15. For truly I was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews; and I have done nothing for which I might be put in prison.
16. Now when the chief bread-maker saw that the first dream had a good sense, he said to Joseph, I had a dream; and in my dream there were three baskets of white bread on my head;
17. And in the top basket were all sorts of cooked meats for Pharaoh; and the birds were taking them out of the baskets on my head.
18. Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream: the three baskets are three days;
19. After three days Pharaoh will take you out of prison, hanging you on a tree, so that your flesh will be food for birds.
20. Now the third day was Pharaoh's birthday, and he gave a feast for all his servants; and he gave honour to the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker among the others.
21. And he put the chief wine-servant back in his old place; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.
22. But the chief bread-maker was put to death by hanging, as Joseph had said.
23. But the wine-servant did not keep Joseph in mind or give a thought to him.

Matthew 23 / Basic English

1. Then Jesus said to the people and to his disciples:
2. The scribes and the Pharisees have the authority of Moses;
3. All things, then, which they give you orders to do, these do and keep: but do not take their works as your example, for they say and do not.
4. They make hard laws and put great weights on men's backs; but they themselves will not put a finger to them.
5. But all their works they do so as to be seen by men: for they make wide their phylacteries, and the edges of their robes,
6. And the things desired by them are the first places at feasts, and the chief seats in the Synagogues,
7. And words of respect in the market-places, and to be named by men, Teacher.
8. But you may not be named Teacher: for one is your teacher, and you are all brothers.
9. And give no man the name of father on earth: because one is your Father, who is in heaven.
10. And you may not be named guides: because one is your Guide, even Christ.
11. But let the greatest among you be your servant.
12. And whoever makes himself high will be made low, and whoever makes himself low will be made high.
13. But a curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! because you are shutting the kingdom of heaven against men: for you do not go in yourselves, and those who are going in, you keep back.
14. []
15. A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you go about land and sea to get one disciple and, having him, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16. A curse is on you, blind guides, who say, Whoever takes an oath by the Temple, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the gold of the Temple, he is responsible.
17. You foolish ones and blind: which is greater, the gold, or the Temple which makes the gold holy?
18. And, Whoever takes an oath by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the offering which is on it, he is responsible.
19. You blind ones: which is greater, the offering, or the altar which makes the offering holy?
20. He, then, who takes an oath by the altar, takes it by the altar and by all things on it.
21. And he who takes an oath by the Temple, takes it by the Temple and by him whose house it is.
22. And he who takes an oath by heaven, takes it by the seat of God, and by him who is seated on it.
23. A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make men give a tenth of all sorts of sweet-smelling plants, but you give no thought to the more important things of the law, righteousness, and mercy, and faith; but it is right for you to do these, and not to let the others be undone.
24. You blind guides, who take out a fly from your drink, but make no trouble over a camel.
25. A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of violent behaviour and uncontrolled desire.
26. You blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may become equally clean.
27. A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you are like the resting-places of the dead, which are made white, and seem beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and of all unclean things.
28. Even so you seem to men to be full of righteousness, but inside you are all false and full of wrongdoing.
29. A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! because you put up buildings for housing the dead bodies of the prophets, and make fair the last resting-places of good men, and say,
30. If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in the blood of the prophets.
31. So that you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who put the prophets to death.
32. Make full, then, the measure of your fathers.
33. You snakes, offspring of snakes, how will you be kept from the punishment of hell?
34. For this reason, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them you will put to death and put on the cross, and to some of them you will give blows in your Synagogues, driving them from town to town;
35. So that on you may come all the blood of the upright on the earth, from the blood of upright Abel to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom you put to death between the Temple and the altar.
36. Truly I say to you, All these things will come on this generation.
37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, putting to death the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her! Again and again would I have taken your children to myself as a bird takes her young ones under her wings, and you would not!
38. See, your house is made waste.
39. For I say to you, You will not see me from this time till you say, A blessing on him who comes in the name of the Lord.