Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 42 / Basic English

1. Now Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, said to his sons, Why are you looking at one another?
2. And he said, I have had news that there is grain in Egypt: go down there and get grain for us, so that life and not death may be ours.
3. So Joseph's ten brothers went down to get grain from Egypt.
4. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, for fear, as he said, that some evil might come to him.
5. And the sons of Israel came with all the others to get grain: for they were very short of food in the land of Canaan.
6. Now Joseph was ruler over all the land, and it was he who gave out the grain to all the people of the land; and Joseph's brothers came before him and went down on their faces to the earth.
7. And when Joseph saw his brothers, it was clear to him who they were, but he made himself strange to them, and talking roughly to them, said, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to get food.
8. Now though Joseph saw that these were his brothers, they had no idea who he was.
9. Then the memory of his dreams about them came back to Joseph, and he said to them, You have come secretly to see how poor the land is.
10. And they said to him, Not so, my lord: your servants have come with money to get food.
11. We are all one man's sons, we are true men; we have not come with any secret purpose.
12. And he said to them, No, but you have come to see how poor the land is.
13. Then they said, We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan; the youngest of us is now with our father, and one is dead.
14. And Joseph said, It is as I said; you have come with some secret purpose;
15. But in this way will you be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here.
16. Send one of your number to get your brother, and the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are true; if not, by the life of Pharaoh, your purpose is certainly secret.
17. So he put them in prison for three days.
18. And on the third day Joseph said to them, Do this, if you would keep your lives: for I am a god-fearing man:
19. If you are true men, let one of you be kept in prison, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families;
20. And come back to me with your youngest brother, so that your words may be seen to be true, and you will not be put to death. This is what you are to do.
21. And they said to one another, Truly, we did wrong to our brother, for we saw his grief of mind, and we did not give ear to his prayers; that is why this trouble has come on us.
22. And Reuben said to them, Did I not say to you, Do the child no wrong? but you gave no attention; so now, punishment has come on us for his blood.
23. They were not conscious that the sense of their words was clear to Joseph, for he had been talking to them through one who had knowledge of their language.
24. And turning away from them, he was overcome with weeping; then he went on talking to them again and took Simeon and put chains on him before their eyes.
25. Then Joseph gave orders for their bags to be made full of grain, and for every man's money to be put back into his bag, and for food to be given them for the journey: which was done.
26. Then they put the bags of grain on their asses and went away.
27. Now at their night's resting-place one of them, opening his bag to give his ass some food, saw his money in the mouth of the bag.
28. And he said to his brothers, My money has been given back: it is in my bag; then their hearts became full of fear, and turning to one another they said, What is this which God has done to us?
29. So when they came to Jacob their father, in the land of Canaan, they gave him an account of all their experiences, saying,
30. The man who is the ruler of the country was rough with us and put us in prison, saying that we had come with a secret evil purpose.
31. And we said to him, We are true men, we have no evil designs;
32. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is dead, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.
33. And the ruler of the land said, In this way I may be certain that you are true men; let one of you be kept here with me, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families;
34. And come back to me with your youngest brother: then I will be certain that you are true men, and I will give your brother back to you and let you do trade in the land.
35. And when they took the grain out of their bags, it was seen that every man's parcel of money was in his bag; and when they and their father saw the money, they were full of fear.
36. And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me: Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away; all these things have come on me.
37. And Reuben said, Put my two sons to death if I do not come back to you with him; let him be in my care and I will give him safely back to you.
38. And he said, I will not let my son go down with you; for his brother is dead and he is all I have: if evil overtakes him on the journey, then through you will my grey head go down to the underworld in sorrow.

Genesis 43 / Basic English

1. Now the land was in bitter need of food.
2. And when the grain which they had got in Egypt was all used up, their father said to them, Go again and get us a little food.
3. And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother.
4. If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food:
5. But if you will not send him, we will not go down: for the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you.
6. And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother?
7. And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living? have you another brother? And we had to give him answers; how were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother?
8. Then Judah said to Israel, his father, Send the boy with me, and let us be up and going, so that we and you and our little ones may not come to destruction.
9. Put him into my care and make me responsible for him: if I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.
10. Truly, if we had not let the time go by, we might have come back again by now.
11. Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts:
12. And take twice as much money with you; that is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error;
13. And take your brother and go back to the man:
14. And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me; there is no help for it.
15. So they took what their father said for the man, and twice as much money in their hands, and Benjamin, and went on their journey to Egypt, and came before Joseph.
16. And when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said to his chief servant, Take these men into my house, and make ready a meal, for they will take food with me in the middle of the day.
17. And the servant did as Joseph said, and took the men into Joseph's house.
18. Now the men were full of fear because they had been taken into Joseph's house and they said, It is because of the money which was put back in our bags the first time; he is looking for something against us, so that he may come down on us and take us and our asses for his use.
19. So they went up to Joseph's chief servant at the door of the house,
20. And said, O my lord, we only came down the first time to get food;
21. And when we came to our night's resting-place, on opening our bags we saw that every man's money was in the mouth of his bag, all our money in full weight: and we have it with us to give it back;
22. As well as more money, with which to get food: we have no idea who put our money in our bags.
23. Then the servant said, Peace be with you: have no fear: your God, even the God of your father, has put wealth in your bags for you: I had your money. Then he let Simeon come out to them.
24. And the servant took them into Joseph's house, and gave them water for washing their feet; and he gave their asses food.
25. And they got ready the things for Joseph before he came in the middle of the day: for word was given to them that they were to have a meal there.
26. And when Joseph came in, they gave him the things which they had for him, and went down to the earth before him.
27. And he said, How are you? is your father well, the old man of whom you were talking to me? is he still living?
28. And they said, Your servant, our father, is well, he is still living. And they went down on their faces before him.
29. Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you gave me word? And he said, God be good to you, my son.
30. Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping.
31. Then, after washing his face, he came out, and controlling his feelings said, Put food before us.
32. And they put a meal ready for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were with him by themselves; because the Egyptians may not take food with the Hebrews, for that would make them unclean.
33. And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.
34. And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. And they took wine freely with him.

Matthew 25 / Basic English

1. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins, the friends of the bride, who took their lights, and went out with the purpose of meeting the husband.
2. And five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3. For the foolish, when they took their lights, took no oil with them.
4. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lights.
5. Now the husband was a long time in coming, and they all went to sleep.
6. But in the middle of the night there is a cry, The husband comes! Go out to him.
7. Then all those virgins got up, and made ready their lights.
8. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lights are going out.
9. But the wise made answer, saying, There may not be enough for us and you; it would be better for you to go to the traders and get oil for yourselves.
10. And while they went to get oil, the master came; and those who were ready went in with him to the feast: and the door was shut.
11. After that the other virgins came, saying, Lord, Lord, let us in.
12. But he made answer and said, Truly I say to you, I have no knowledge of you.
13. Keep watch, then, because you are not certain of the day or of the hour.
14. For it is as when a man, about to take a journey, got his servants together, and gave them his property.
15. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to everyone as he was able; and he went on his journey.
16. Straight away he who had been given the five talents went and did trade with them, and made five more.
17. In the same way he who had been given the two got two more.
18. But he who was given the one went away and put it in a hole in the earth, and kept his lord's money in a secret place.
19. Now after a long time the lord of those servants comes, and makes up his account with them.
20. And he who had the five talents came with his other five talents, saying, Lord, you gave into my care five talents: see, I have got five more.
21. His lord said to him, Well done, good and true servant: you have been true in a small thing, I will give you control over great things: take your part in the joy of your lord.
22. And he who had the two talents came and said, Lord, you gave into my care two talents: see, I have got two more.
23. His lord said to him, Well done, good and true servant: you have been true in a small thing, I will give you control over great things: take your part in the joy of your lord.
24. And he who had had the one talent came and said, Lord, I had knowledge that you are a hard man, getting in grain where you have not put seed, and making profits for which you have done no work:
25. And I was in fear, and went away, and put your talent in the earth: here is what is yours.
26. But his lord in answer said to him, You are a bad and unready servant; if you had knowledge that I get in grain where I did not put seed, and make profits for which I have done no work,
27. Why, then, did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I would have got back what is mine with interest?
28. Take away, then, his talent and give it to him who has the ten talents.
29. For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have more: but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
30. And put out the servant who is of no profit into the outer dark: there will be weeping and cries of sorrow.
31. But when the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then will he be seated in his glory:
32. And before him all the nations will come together; and they will be parted one from another, as the sheep are parted from the goats by the keeper.
33. And he will put the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
34. Then will the King say to those on his right, Come, you who have the blessing of my Father, into the kingdom made ready for you before the world was:
35. For I was in need of food, and you gave it to me: I was in need of drink, and you gave it to me: I was wandering, and you took me in;
36. I had no clothing, and you gave it to me: when I was ill, or in prison, you came to me.
37. Then will the upright make answer to him, saying, Lord, when did we see you in need of food, and give it to you? or in need of drink, and give it to you?
38. And when did we see you wandering, and take you in? or without clothing, and give it to you?
39. And when did we see you ill, or in prison, and come to you?
40. And the King will make answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Because you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
41. Then will he say to those on the left, Go from me, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire which is ready for the Evil One and his angels:
42. For I was in need of food, and you gave it not to me; I was in need of drink, and you gave it not to me:
43. I was wandering, and you took me not in; without clothing, and you gave me no clothing; ill, and in prison, and you came not to me.
44. Then will they make answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you in need of food or drink, or wandering, or without clothing, or ill, or in prison, and did not take care of you?
45. Then will he make answer to them, saying, Truly I say to you, Because you did it not to the least of these, you did it not to me.
46. And these will go away into eternal punishment; but the upright into eternal life.