Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Nehemiah 11 / Basic English

1. And the rulers of the people were living in Jerusalem: the rest of the people made selection, by the decision of chance, of one out of every ten to be living in Jerusalem, the holy town; the other nine to go to the other towns.
2. And the people gave a blessing to all the men who were freely offering to take up their places in Jerusalem.
3. Now these are the chiefs of the divisions of the country who were living in Jerusalem: but in the towns of Judah everyone was living on his heritage in the towns, that is, Israel, the priests, the Levites, the Nethinim, and the children of Solomon's servants.
4. And in Jerusalem there were living certain of the children of Judah and of Benjamin. Of the children of Judah: Athaiah, the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the children of Perez;
5. And Maaseiah, the son of Baruch, the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of the Shilonite.
6. All the sons of Perez living in Jerusalem were four hundred and sixty-eight men of good position.
7. And these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu, the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah.
8. And after him Gabbai, Sallai, nine hundred and twenty-eight.
9. And Joel, the son of Zichri, was their overseer; and Judah, the son of Hassenuah, was second over the town.
10. Of the priests: Jedaiah, the son of Joiarib, Jachin,
11. Seraiah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God,
12. And their brothers who did the work of the house, eight hundred and twenty-two; and Adaiah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah,
13. And his brothers, heads of families, two hundred and forty-two; and Amashsai, the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer,
14. And their brothers, men of war, a hundred and twenty-eight; and their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of Haggedolim.
15. And of the Levites: Shemaiah, the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni,
16. And Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chiefs of the Levites, who were responsible for the outside business of the house of God;
17. And Mattaniah, the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who had to give the first note of the song of praise in prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brothers, and Abda, the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.
18. All the Levites in the holy town were two hundred and eighty-four.
19. In addition the door-keepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers who kept watch at the doors, were a hundred and seventy-two.
20. And the rest of Israel, of the priests, the Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, every one in his heritage.
21. But the Nethinim were living in the Ophel; and Ziha and Gishpa were over the Nethinim.
22. And the overseer of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi, the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the music-makers, who was over the business of the house of God.
23. For there was an order from the king about them and a regular amount for the music-makers, for their needs day by day.
24. And Pethahiah, the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah, the son of Judah, was the king's servant in everything to do with the people.
25. And for the daughter-towns with their fields, some of the men of Judah were living in Kiriath-arba and its daughter-towns, and in Dibon and its daughter-towns, and in Jekabzeel and its daughter-towns,
26. And in Jeshua, and in Moladah, and Beth-pelet,
27. And in Hazar-shual, and in Beer-sheba and its daughter-towns,
28. And in Ziklag, and in Meconah and its daughter-towns,
29. And in En-rimmon, and in Zorah, and in Jarmuth,
30. Zanoah, Adullam and their daughter-towns, Lachish and its fields, Azekah and its daughter-towns. So they were living from Beer-sheba to the valley of Hinnom.
31. And the children of Benjamin were living from Geba, at Michmash and Aija, and at Beth-el and its daughter-towns,
32. At Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,
33. Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,
34. Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,
35. Lod and Ono, the valley of expert workers.
36. And of the Levites, certain divisions in Judah were joined to Benjamin.

Nehemiah 12 / Basic English

1. Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
2. Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,
3. Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,
4. Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,
5. Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,
6. Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah,
7. Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.
8. And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who was over the music-makers, he and his brothers.
9. And Bakbukiah and Unno, their brothers, were opposite them in their watches.
10. And Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, and Joiakim was the father of Eliashib, and Eliashib was the father of Joiada,
11. And Joiada was the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.
12. And in the days of Joiakim there were priests, heads of families: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;
13. Of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;
14. Of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;
15. Of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;
16. Of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;
17. Of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai;
18. Of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;
19. And of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;
20. Of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;
21. Of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.
22. The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were listed as heads of families; and the priests, when Darius the Persian was king.
23. The sons of Levi, heads of families, were recorded in the book of the histories, even till the days of Johanan, the son of Eliashib.
24. And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua, the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers opposite them, to give blessing and praise as ordered by David, the man of God, watch against watch.
25. Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were door-keepers keeping the watch at the store-houses of the doors.
26. These were in the days of Joiakim, the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the ruler and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.
27. And when the time came for the wall of Jerusalem to be made holy, they sent for the Levites out of all their places to come to Jerusalem, to keep the feast with joy, and with praise and melody, with brass and corded instruments of music.
28. And the sons of the music-makers came together from the lowland round about Jerusalem and from the daughter-towns of the Netophathites,
29. And from Beth-gilgal and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the music-makers had made daughter-towns for themselves round about Jerusalem.
30. And the priests and the Levites made themselves clean; and they made the people clean, and the doorways and the wall.
31. Then I made the rulers of Judah come up on the wall, and I put in position two great bands of them who gave praise, walking in ordered lines; one went to the right on the wall, in the direction of the doorway where the waste was put;
32. And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the rulers of Judah,
33. And Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam,
34. Judah and Benjamin and Shemaiah and Jeremiah,
35. And certain of the priests' sons with wind instruments; Zechariah, the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph,
36. And his brothers, Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel and Judah, Hanani, with the music-instruments of David, the man of God; and Ezra the scribe was at their head;
37. And by the doorway of the fountain and straight in front of them, they went up by the steps of the town of David, at the slope up of the wall, over the house of David, as far as the water-doorway to the east.
38. And the other band of those who gave praise went to the left, and I went after them with half the people, on the wall, over the tower of the ovens, as far as the wide wall;
39. And over the doorway of Ephraim and by the old door and the fish door and the tower of Hananel and the tower of Hammeah, as far as the sheep door: and at the doorway of the watchmen they came to a stop.
40. So the two bands of those who gave praise took up their positions in the house of God, and I and half of the chiefs with me:
41. And the priests; Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with wind instruments;
42. And Maaseiah and Shemaiah and Eleazar and Uzzi and Jehohanan and Malchijah and Elam and Ezer. And the makers of melody made their voices loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer.
43. And on that day they made great offerings and were glad; for God had made them glad with great joy; and the women and the children were glad with them: so that the joy of Jerusalem came to the ears of those who were far off.
44. And on that day certain men were put over the rooms where the things which had been given were stored, for the lifted offerings and the first-fruits and the tenths, and to take into them the amounts, from the fields of every town, fixed by the law for the priests and the Levites: for Judah was glad on account of the priests and the Levites who were in their places.
45. And they kept the watch of their God, and were responsible for making things clean, and so did the music-makers and the door-keepers, as it was ordered by David and Solomon his son.
46. For in the days of David and Asaph in the past, there was a master of the music, and songs of blessing and praise to God.
47. And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave what was needed by the music-makers and the door-keepers day by day: and they made the offerings holy for the Levites; and the Levites did the same for the sons of Aaron.

Acts 22 / Basic English

1. My brothers and fathers, give ear to the story of my life which I now put before you.
2. And, hearing him talking in the Hebrew language, they became the more quiet, and he said,
3. I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia by birth, but I had my education in this town at the feet of Gamaliel, being trained in the keeping of every detail of the law of our fathers; given up to the cause of God with all my heart, as you are today.
4. And I made attacks on this Way, even to death, taking men and women and putting them in prison.
5. Of which the high priest will be a witness, and all the rulers, from whom I had letters to the brothers; and I went into Damascus, to take those who were there as prisoners to Jerusalem for punishment.
6. And it came about that while I was on my journey, coming near to Damascus, about the middle of the day, suddenly I saw a great light from heaven shining round me.
7. And when I went down on the earth, a voice came to my ears saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me so cruelly?
8. And I, answering, said, Who are you; Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are attacking.
9. And those who were with me saw the light, but the voice of him who was talking to me came not to their ears.
10. And I said, What have I to do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Get up, and go into Damascus; and it will be made clear to you what you have to do.
11. And because I was unable to see because of the glory of that light, those who were with me took me by the hand, and so I came to Damascus.
12. And one Ananias, a God-fearing man, who kept the law, and of whom all the Jews in that place had a high opinion,
13. Came to my side and said, Brother Saul, let your eyes be open. And in that very hour I was able to see him.
14. And he said, You have been marked out by the God of our fathers to have knowledge of his purpose, and to see the Upright One and to give ear to the words of his mouth.
15. For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and of what has come to your ears.
16. And now, why are you waiting? get up, and have baptism, for the washing away of your sins, giving worship to his name.
17. And it came about that when I had come back to Jerusalem, while I was at prayer in the Temple, my senses became more than naturally clear,
18. And I saw him saying to me, Go out of Jerusalem straight away because they will not give hearing to your witness about me.
19. And I said, Lord, they themselves have knowledge that I went through the Synagogues putting in prison and whipping all those who had faith in you:
20. And when Stephen your witness was put to death, I was there, giving approval, and looking after the clothing of those who put him to death.
21. And he said to me, Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.
22. And they gave him a hearing as far as this word; then with loud voices they said, Away with this man from the earth; it is not right for him to be living.
23. And while they were crying out, and pulling off their clothing, and sending dust into the air,
24. The chief captain gave orders for him to be taken into the army building, saying that he would put him to the test by whipping, so that he might have knowledge of the reason why they were crying out so violently against him.
25. And when they had put leather bands round him, Paul said to the captain who was present, Is it the law for you to give blows to a man who is a Roman and has not been judged?
26. And hearing this, the man went to the chief captain and gave him an account of it, saying, What are you about to do? for this man is a Roman.
27. And the chief captain came to him and said, Give me an answer, are you a Roman? And he said, Yes.
28. And the chief captain said, I got Roman rights for myself at a great price. And Paul said, But I had them by birth.
29. Then those who were about to put him to the test went away: and the chief captain was in fear, seeing that he was a Roman, and that he had put chains on him.
30. But on the day after, desiring to have certain knowledge of what the Jews had to say against him, he made him free, and gave orders for the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to come together, and he took Paul and put him before them.