Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Esther 10 / Basic English

1. And King Ahasuerus put a tax on the land and on the islands of the sea.
2. And all his acts of power and his great strength and the full story of the high place which the king gave Mordecai, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Media and Persia?
3. For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and respected by the body of his countrymen; working for the good of his people, and saying words of peace to all his seed.

Job 1 / Basic English

1. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. He was without sin and upright, fearing God and keeping himself far from evil.
2. And he had seven sons and three daughters.
3. And of cattle he had seven thousand sheep and goats, and three thousand camels, and a thousand oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great number of servants. And the man was greater than any of the sons of the east.
4. His sons regularly went to one another's houses, and every one on his day gave a feast: and at these times they sent for their three sisters to take part in their feasts with them.
5. And at the end of their days of feasting, Job sent and made them clean, getting up early in the morning and offering burned offerings for them all. For, Job said, It may be that my sons have done wrong and said evil of God in their hearts. And Job did this whenever the feasts came round.
6. And there was a day when the sons of the gods came together before the Lord, and the Satan came with them.
7. And the Lord said to the Satan, Where do you come from? And the Satan said in answer, From wandering this way and that on the earth, and walking about on it.
8. And the Lord said to the Satan, Have you taken note of my servant Job, for there is no one like him on the earth, a man without sin and upright, fearing God and keeping himself far from evil?
9. And the Satan said in answer to the Lord, Is it for nothing that Job is a god-fearing man?
10. Have you yourself not put a wall round him and his house and all he has on every side, blessing the work of his hands, and increasing his cattle in the land?
11. But now, put out your hand against all he has, and he will be cursing you to your face.
12. And the Lord said to the Satan, See, I give all he has into your hands, only do not put a finger on the man himself. And the Satan went out from before the Lord.
13. And there was a day when his sons and daughters were feasting in the house of their oldest brother,
14. And a man came to Job, and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses were taking their food by their side:
15. And the men of Sheba came against them and took them away, putting the young men to the sword, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.
16. And this one was still talking when another came, and said, The fire of God came down from heaven, burning up the sheep and the goats and the young men completely, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.
17. And this one was still talking when another came, and said, The Chaldaeans made themselves into three bands, and came down on the camels and took them away, putting the young men to the sword, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.
18. And this one was still talking when another came, and said, Your sons and your daughters were feasting together in their oldest brother's house,
19. When a great wind came rushing from the waste land against the four sides of the house, and it came down on the young men, and they are dead; and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.
20. Then Job got up, and after parting his clothing and cutting off his hair, he went down on his face to the earth, and gave worship, and said,
21. With nothing I came out of my mother's body, and with nothing I will go back there; the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; let the Lord's name be praised.
22. In all this Job did no sin, and did not say that God's acts were foolish.

Job 2 / Basic English

1. And there was a day when the sons of the gods came together before the Lord, and the Satan came with them.
2. And the Lord said to the Satan, Where do you come from? And the Satan said in answer, From wandering this way and that on the earth, and walking about on it.
3. And the Lord said to the Satan, Have you taken note of my servant Job, for there is no one like him on the earth, a man without sin and upright, fearing God and keeping himself far from evil? and he still keeps his righteousness, though you have been moving me to send destruction on him without cause.
4. And the Satan said in answer to the Lord, Skin for skin, all a man has he will give for his life.
5. But now, if you only put your hand on his bone and his flesh, he will certainly be cursing you to your face.
6. And the Lord said to the Satan, See, he is in your hands, only do not take his life.
7. And the Satan went out from before the Lord, and sent on Job an evil disease covering his skin from his feet to the top of his head.
8. And he took a broken bit of a pot, and, seated in the dust, was rubbing himself with the sharp edge of it.
9. And his wife said to him, Are you still keeping your righteousness? Say a curse against God, and put an end to yourself.
10. And he said to her, You are talking like one of the foolish women. If we take the good God sends us, are we not to take the evil when it comes? In all this Job kept his lips from sin.
11. And Job's three friends had word of all this evil which had come on him. And they came every one from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. So they came together to a meeting-place, in order that they might go and make clear to Job their grief for him, and give him comfort.
12. And lifting up their eyes when they were still far off, it did not seem that the man they saw was Job because of the change in him. And they gave way to bitter weeping, with signs of grief, and put dust on their heads.
13. And they took their seats on the earth by his side for seven days and seven nights: but no one said a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Acts 27 / Basic English

1. And when the decision had been made that we were to go by sea to Italy, they gave Paul and certain other prisoners into the care of a captain named Julius, of the Augustan band.
2. And we went to sea in a ship of Adramyttium which was sailing to the sea towns of Asia, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.
3. And on the day after, we came to Sidon; and Julius was kind to Paul, and let him go to see his friends and take a rest.
4. And sailing again from there, we went on under cover of Cyprus, because the wind was against us.
5. And having gone across the sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia we came to Myra, in Lycia.
6. And there the captain came across a ship of Alexandria, sailing for Italy, and put us in it.
7. And when we had gone on slowly for a long time, and had had hard work getting across to Cnidus, for the wind was against us, we went under cover of Crete, in the direction of Salmone;
8. And sailing down the side of it, as well as we were able, we came to a certain place named Fair Havens, near which was the town of Lasea.
9. And as a long time had gone by, and the journey was now full of danger, because it was late in the year, Paul put the position before them,
10. Saying, Friends, I see that this journey will be one of great damage and loss, not only to the goods and the ship, but to ourselves.
11. But the captain gave more attention to the master and the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.
12. And as the harbour was not a good one in which to be for the winter, the greater number of them were for going out to sea, in order, if possible, to put in for the winter at Phoenix, a harbour of Crete, looking to the north-east and south-east.
13. And when the south wind came softly, being of the opinion that their purpose might be effected, they let the ship go and went sailing down the side of Crete, very near to the land.
14. But after a little time, a very violent wind, named Euraquilo, came down from it with great force.
15. And when the ship got into the grip of it, and was not able to make headway into the wind, we gave way, and went before it.
16. And, sailing near the side of a small island named Cauda, we were able, though it was hard work, to make the ship's boat safe:
17. And having got it up, they put cords under and round the ship; but fearing that they might be pushed on to the Syrtis, they let down the sails and so went running before the wind.
18. And, still fighting the storm with all our strength, the day after they made a start at getting the goods out of the ship;
19. And on the third day, they let all the sailing apparatus go over the side.
20. And as we had not seen the sun or stars for a long time, and a great storm was on us, all hope of salvation was gone.
21. And when they had been without food for a long time, Paul got up among them and said, Friends, it would have been better if you had given attention to me and not gone sailing out from Crete, to undergo this damage and loss.
22. But now, I say to you, be of good heart, for there will be no loss of life, but only of the ship.
23. For this night there came to my side an angel of the God who is my Master and whose servant I am,
24. Saying, Have no fear, Paul, for you will come before Caesar, and God has given to you all those who are sailing with you.
25. And so, O men, be of good heart, for I have faith in God that it will be as he said to me.
26. But we will be sent on to a certain island.
27. But when the fourteenth day came, while we were going here and there in the Adriatic sea, about the middle of the night the sailors had an idea that they were getting near land;
28. And they let down the lead, and saw that the sea was a hundred and twenty feet deep; and after a little time they did it again and it was ninety feet.
29. Then, fearing that by chance we might come on to the rocks, they let down four hooks from the back of the ship, and made prayers for the coming of day.
30. Then the sailors made attempts secretly to get away from the ship, letting down a boat as if they were about to put down hooks from the front of the ship;
31. But Paul said to the captain and his men, If you do not keep these men in the ship, you will not be safe.
32. Then the armed men, cutting the cords of the boat, let her go.
33. And when dawn was near, Paul gave them all orders to take food, saying, This is the fourteenth day you have been waiting and taking no food.
34. So I make request to you to take food; for this is for your salvation: not a hair from the head of any of you will come to destruction.
35. And when he had said this and had taken bread, he gave praise to God before them all, and took a meal of the broken bread.
36. Then they all took heart and did the same.
37. And we were, in the ship, two hundred and seventy-six persons.
38. And when they had had enough food, they made the weight of the ship less, turning the grain out into the sea.
39. And when it was day, they had no knowledge of the land, but they saw an inlet of the sea with a floor of sand, and they had the idea of driving the ship up on to it if possible.
40. So cutting away the hooks, and letting them go into the sea, and freeing the cords of the guiding-blades, and lifting up the sail to the wind, they went in the direction of the inlet.
41. And coming to a point between two seas, they got the ship to land; and the front part was fixed in the sand and not able to be moved, but the back part was broken by the force of the waves.
42. Then the armed men were for putting the prisoners to death, so that no one would get away by swimming.
43. But the captain, desiring to keep Paul safe, kept them from their purpose, and gave orders that those who had knowledge of swimming were to go off the ship and get first to land:
44. And the rest, some on boards and some on things from the ship. And so it came about that they all got safe to land.