Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 41 / Basic English

1. Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile;
2. And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass.
3. And after them seven other cows came out of the Nile, poor-looking and thin; and they were by the side of the other cows.
4. And the seven thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh came out of his sleep.
5. But he went to sleep again and had a second dream, in which he saw seven heads of grain, full and good, all on one stem.
6. And after them came up seven other heads, thin and wasted by the east wind.
7. And the seven thin heads made a meal of the good heads. And when Pharaoh was awake he saw it was a dream.
8. And in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them, but no one was able to give him the sense of it.
9. Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now;
10. Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker;
11. And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense.
12. And there was with us a young Hebrew, the captain's servant, and when we put our dreams before him, he gave us the sense of them.
13. And it came about as he said: I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging.
14. Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they took him quickly out of prison; and when his hair had been cut and his dress changed, he came before Pharaoh.
15. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it; now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you.
16. Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh.
17. Then Pharaoh said, In my dream I was by the side of the Nile:
18. And out of the Nile came seven cows, fat and good-looking, and their food was the river-grass;
19. Then after them came seven other cows, very thin and poor-looking, worse than any I ever saw in the land of Egypt;
20. And the thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows who came up first;
21. And even with the fat cows inside them they seemed as bad as before. And so I came out of my sleep.
22. And again in a dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stem:
23. And then I saw seven other heads, dry, thin, and wasted by the east wind, coming up after them:
24. And the seven thin heads made a meal of the seven good heads; and I put this dream before the wise men, but not one of them was able to give me the sense of it.
25. Then Joseph said, These two dreams have the same sense: God has made clear to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
26. The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the two have the same sense.
27. The seven thin and poor-looking cows who came up after them are seven years; and the seven heads of grain, dry and wasted by the east wind, are seven years when there will be no food.
28. As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do.
29. Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt;
30. And after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food; and the memory of the good years will go from men's minds; and the land will be made waste by the bad years;
31. And men will have no memory of the good time because of the need which will come after, for it will be very bitter.
32. And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about.
33. And now let Pharaoh make search for a man of wisdom and good sense, and put him in authority over the land of Egypt.
34. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him put overseers over the land of Egypt to put in store a fifth part of the produce of the land in the good years.
35. And let them get together all the food in those good years and make a store of grain under Pharaoh's control for the use of the towns, and let them keep it.
36. And let that food be kept in store for the land till the seven bad years which are to come in Egypt; so that the land may not come to destruction through need of food.
37. And this seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.
38. Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Where may we get such a man as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?
39. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you:
40. You, then, are to be over my house, and all my people will be ruled by your word: only as king will I be greater than you.
41. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt.
42. Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and he had him clothed with the best linen, and put a chain of gold round his neck;
43. And he made him take his seat in the second of his carriages; and they went before him crying, Make way! So he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
44. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without your order no man may do anything in all the land of Egypt.
45. And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt.
46. Now Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before the face of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.
47. Now in the seven good years the earth gave fruit in masses.
48. And Joseph got together all the food of those seven years, and made a store of food in the towns: the produce of the fields round every town was stored up in the town.
49. So he got together a store of grain like the sand of the sea; so great a store that after a time he gave up measuring it, for it might not be measured.
50. And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, gave birth.
51. And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house.
52. And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow.
53. And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end.
54. Then came the first of the seven years of need as Joseph had said: and in every other land they were short of food; but in the land of Egypt there was bread.
55. And when all the land of Egypt was in need of food, the people came crying to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to the people, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do it.
56. And everywhere on the earth they were short of food; then Joseph, opening all his store-houses, gave the people of Egypt grain for money; so great was the need of food in the land of Egypt.
57. And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.

Matthew 24 / Basic English

1. And Jesus went out of the Temple, and on the way his disciples came to him, pointing out the buildings of the Temple.
2. But he, answering, said to them, See you not all these things? truly I say to you that here there will not be one stone resting on another, which will not be pulled down.
3. And while he was seated on the Mountain of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Make clear to us, when will these things be? and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?
4. And Jesus said to them in answer, Take care that you are not tricked.
5. For people will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and a number will be turned from the true way through them.
6. And news will come to you of wars and talk of wars: do not be troubled, for these things have to be; but it is still not the end.
7. For nation will be moved against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and men will be without food, and the earth will be shaking in different places;
8. But all these things are the first of the troubles.
9. Then they will be cruel to you, and will put you to death: and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.
10. And numbers of people will be turned from the right way, and will give one another up and have hate for one another.
11. And a number of false prophets will come, causing error.
12. And because wrongdoing will be increased, the love of most people will become cold.
13. But he who goes through to the end will get salvation.
14. And this good news of the kingdom will be given through all the world for a witness to all nations; and then the end will come.
15. When, then, you see in the holy place the unclean thing which makes destruction, of which word was given by Daniel the prophet (let this be clear to the reader),
16. Then let those who are in Judaea go in flight to the mountains:
17. Let not him who is on the house-top go down to take anything out of his house:
18. And let not him who is in the field go back to get his coat.
19. But it will be hard for women who are with child and for those with babies at the breast in those days.
20. And say a prayer that your flight may not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.
21. Because in those days there will be great sorrow, such as there has not been from the start of the world till now, or ever will be.
22. And if those days had not been made short there would have been no salvation for any, but because of the saints those days will be made short.
23. Then if any man says to you, See, here is the Christ, or, Here; do not put faith in him;
24. For there will come up false Christs, and false prophets, who will do great signs and wonders; so that if possible even the saints might be tricked.
25. See, I have made it clear to you before it comes about.
26. If, then, they say to you, See, he is in the waste land; go not out: See, he is in the inner rooms; put no faith in it.
27. Because as in a thunderstorm the bright light coming from the east is seen even in the west; so will be the coming of the Son of man.
28. Wherever the dead body is, there will the eagles come together.
29. But straight away, after the trouble of those days, the sun will be made dark and the moon will not give her light and the stars will come down from heaven and the powers of heaven will be moved:
30. And then the sign of the Son of man will be seen in heaven: and then all the nations of the earth will have sorrow, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31. And he will send out his angels with a great sound of a horn, and they will get his saints together from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32. Now take an example from the fig-tree: when her branch has become soft and puts out its leaves, you are certain that the summer is near;
33. Even so, when you see all these things, you may be certain that he is near, even at the doors.
34. Truly I say to you, This generation will not come to an end till all these things are complete.
35. Heaven and earth will come to an end, but my words will not come to an end.
36. But of that day and hour no one has knowledge, not even the angels in heaven, or the Son, but the Father only.
37. And as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man.
38. Because as in those days before the overflowing of the waters, they were feasting and taking wives and getting married, till the day when Noah went into the ark,
39. And they had no care till the waters came and took them all away; so will be the coming of the Son of man.
40. Then two men will be in the field; one is taken, and one let go;
41. Two women will be crushing grain; one is taken, and one let go.
42. Be watching, then! for you have no knowledge on what day your Lord will come.
43. But be certain of this, that if the master of the house had had knowledge of the time when the thief was coming, he would have been watching, and would not have let his house be broken into.
44. Be ready then; for at a time which you have no thought of the Son of man will come.
45. Who is the true and wise servant, whom his lord has put over those in his house, to give them their food at the right time?
46. A blessing on that servant, who will be doing so when his lord comes.
47. Truly, I say to you, he will put him over all he has.
48. But if that evil servant says in his heart, My lord is a long time in coming;
49. And is cruel to the other servants, taking his pleasure with those who are overcome with wine;
50. The lord of that servant will come in a day when he is not looking for him, and in an hour of which he has no knowledge,
51. And will have him cut in two, and will give him a part in the fate of the false ones: there will be weeping and cries of sorrow.