Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 46 / Basic English

1. And Israel went on his journey with all he had, and came to Beer-sheba, where he made offerings to the God of his father Isaac.
2. And God said to Israel in a night-vision, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
3. And he said, I am God, the God of your father: go down to Egypt without fear, for I will make a great nation of you there:
4. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will see that you come back again, and at your death Joseph will put his hands on your eyes.
5. Then Jacob went on from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Jacob took their father and their little ones and their wives in the carts which Pharaoh had sent for them.
6. And they took their cattle and all the goods which they had got in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, even Jacob and all his seed:
7. His sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his daughters' sons and all his family he took with him into Egypt.
8. And these are the names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt, even Jacob and all his sons: Reuben, Jacob's oldest son;
9. And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi;
10. And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan;
11. And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari;
12. And the sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah: but Er and Onan had come to their death in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
13. And the sons of Issachar: Tola and Puah and Job and Shimron;
14. And the sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel;
15. All these, together with his daughter Dinah, were the children of Leah, whom Jacob had by her in Paddan-aram; they were thirty-three in number.
16. And the sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli;
17. And the sons of Asher: Jimnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah, and Sarah, their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.
18. These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah, and Jacob had these sixteen children by her.
19. The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
20. And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On.
21. And the sons of Benjamin were Belah and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard.
22. All these were the children of Rachel whom Jacob had by her, fourteen persons.
23. And the son of Dan was Hushim.
24. And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem.
25. These were the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, seven persons.
26. All the persons who came with Jacob into Egypt, the offspring of his body, were sixty-six, without taking into account the wives of Jacob's sons.
27. And the sons of Joseph whom he had in Egypt were two. Seventy persons of the family of Jacob came into Egypt.
28. Now he had sent Judah before him to Goshen, to get word from Joseph; and so they came to the land of Goshen.
29. And Joseph got his carriage ready and went to Goshen for the meeting with his father; and when he came before him, he put his arms round his neck, weeping.
30. And Israel said to Joseph, Now that I have seen you living again, I am ready for death.
31. And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's people, I will go and give the news to Pharaoh, and say to him, My brothers and my father's people, from the land of Canaan, have come to me;
32. And these men are keepers of sheep and owners of cattle, and have with them their flocks and their herds and all they have.
33. Now when Pharaoh sends for you and says, What is your business?
34. You are to say, Your servants have been keepers of cattle from our early days up to now, like our fathers; in this way you will be able to have the land of Goshen for yourselves; because keepers of sheep are unclean in the eyes of the Egyptians.

Genesis 47 / Basic English

1. Then Joseph went to Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers with their flocks and their herds and all they have, are come from Canaan, and are now in the land of Goshen.
2. And he took five of his brothers to Pharaoh.
3. And Pharaoh said to them, What is your business? And they said, Your servants are keepers of sheep, as our fathers were before us.
4. And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to make a living in this land, because we have no grass for our flocks in the land of Canaan; so now let your servants make a place for themselves in the land of Goshen.
5. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Let them have the land of Goshen; and if there are any able men among them, put them over my cattle.
6. And Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, and when word of it came to the ears of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, he said to Joseph, Your father and brothers have come to you; all the land of Egypt is before you; let your father and your brothers have the best of the land for their resting-place.
7. Then Joseph made his father Jacob come before Pharaoh, and Jacob gave him his blessing.
8. And Pharaoh said to him, How old are you?
9. And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers.
10. And Jacob gave Pharaoh his blessing, and went out from before him.
11. And Joseph made a place for his father and his brothers, and gave them a heritage in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had given orders.
12. And Joseph took care of his father and his brothers and all his father's people, giving them food for the needs of their families.
13. Now there was no food to be had in all the land, so that all Egypt and Canaan were wasted from need of food.
14. And all the money in Egypt and in the land of Canaan which had been given for grain, came into the hands of Joseph: and he put it in Pharaoh's house.
15. And when all the money in Egypt and Canaan was gone, the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, Give us bread; would you have us come to destruction before your eyes? for we have no more money.
16. And Joseph said, Give me your cattle; I will give you grain in exchange for your cattle if your money is all gone.
17. So they took their cattle to Joseph and he gave them bread in exchange for their horses and flocks and herds and asses, so all that year he gave them food in exchange for their cattle.
18. And when that year was ended, they came to him in the second year, and said, We may not keep it from our lord's knowledge that all our money is gone, and all the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nothing more to give my lord but our bodies and our land;
19. Are we to come to destruction before your eyes, we and our land? take us and our land and give us bread; and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh; and give us seed so that we may have life and the land may not become waste.
20. So Joseph got all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh; for every Egyptian gave up his land in exchange for food, because of their great need; so all the land became Pharaoh's.
21. And as for the people, he made servants of them, town by town, from one end of Egypt to the other.
22. Only he did not take the land of the priests, for the priests had their food given them by Pharaoh, and having what Pharaoh gave them, they had no need to give up their land.
23. Then Joseph said to the people, I have made you and your land this day the property of Pharaoh; here is seed for you to put in your fields.
24. And when the grain is cut, you are to give a fifth part to Pharaoh, and four parts will be yours for seed and food, and for your families and your little ones.
25. And they said to him, Truly you have kept us from death; may we have grace in your eyes, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.
26. Then Joseph made a law which is in force to this day, that Pharaoh was to have the fifth part; only the land of the priests did not become his.
27. And so Israel was living among the Egyptians in the land of Goshen; and they got property there, and became very great in numbers and in wealth.
28. And Jacob was living in the land of Goshen for seventeen years; so the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven.
29. And the time of his death came near, and he sent for his son Joseph and said to him, If now I am dear to you, put your hand under my leg and take an oath that you will not put me to rest in Egypt;
30. But when I go to my fathers, you are to take me out of Egypt and put me to rest in their last resting-place. And he said, I will do so.
31. And he said, Take an oath to me; and he took an oath to him: and Israel gave worship on the bed's head.

Matthew 27 / Basic English

1. Now when it was morning, all the chief priests and those in authority took thought together with the purpose of putting Jesus to death.
2. And they put cords on him and took him away, and gave him up to Pilate, the ruler.
3. Then Judas, who was false to him, seeing that he was to be put to death, in his regret took back the thirty bits of silver to the chief priests and those in authority,
4. Saying, I have done wrong in giving into your hands an upright man. But they said, What is that to us? it is your business.
5. And he put down the silver in the Temple and went out, and put himself to death by hanging.
6. And the chief priests took the silver and said, It is not right to put it in the Temple store for it is the price of blood.
7. And they made a decision to get with the silver the potter's field, as a place for the dead of other countries.
8. For this cause that field was named, The field of blood, to this day.
9. Then came true that which was said by Jeremiah the prophet, And they took the thirty bits of silver, the price of him who was valued by the children of Israel;
10. And they gave them for the potter's field, as I had word from the Lord.
11. And Jesus was before the ruler, who put a question to him, Are you the King of the Jews? And Jesus said to him, You say so.
12. But when the chief priests and those in authority made statements against him, he gave no answer.
13. Then says Pilate to him, Do you give no attention to what their witnesses say against you?
14. And he gave him no answer, not even a word: so that the ruler was greatly surprised.
15. Now at the feast it was the way for the ruler to let free to the people one prisoner, at their selection.
16. And they had then an important prisoner, whose name was Barabbas.
17. So when they came together, Pilate said to them, Whom will you have? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is named Christ?
18. For he saw that for envy they had given him up.
19. And while he was on the judge's seat, his wife sent to him, saying, Have nothing to do with that upright man, for I have had much trouble this day in a dream because of him.
20. Now the chief priests and those in authority got the people to make request for Barabbas, and for Jesus to be put to death.
21. But the ruler made answer and said to them, Which of the two is it your pleasure that I let go free? And they said, Barabbas.
22. Pilate says to them, What, then, am I to do with Jesus, who is named Christ? They all say, Let him be put to death on the cross.
23. And he said, Why, what evil has he done? But they gave loud cries, saying, To the cross with him!
24. So when Pilate saw that he was able to do nothing, but that trouble was working up, he took water and, washing his hands before the people, said, The blood of this upright man is not on my hands: you are responsible.
25. And all the people made answer and said, Let his blood be on us, and on our children.
26. Then he let Barabbas go free: but after having Jesus whipped, he gave him up to be put to death on the cross.
27. Then the ruler's armed men took Jesus into the open square, and got all their band together.
28. And they took off his clothing, and put on him a red robe.
29. And they made a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and put a rod in his right hand, and they went down on their knees before him, and made sport of him, saying, Long life to the King of the Jews.
30. And they put shame on him, and gave him blows on the head with the rod.
31. And when they had made sport of him, they took the robe off him, and put his clothing on him, and took him away to put him on the cross.
32. And while they were coming out, they saw a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they made him go with them, so that he might take up his cross.
33. And when they came to the place named Golgotha, that is to say, Dead Man's Head,
34. They gave him wine mixed with bitter drink: and after tasting it, he took no more.
35. And when they had put him on the cross, they made division of his clothing among them by the decision of chance.
36. And they were seated there watching him.
37. And they put up over his head the statement of his crime in writing, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38. Then two thieves were put on crosses with him, one on the right and one on the left.
39. And those who went by said bitter words to him, shaking their heads and saying,
40. You who would give the Temple to destruction and put it up again in three days, get yourself free: if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.
41. In the same way, the chief priests, making sport of him, with the scribes and those in authority, said,
42. A saviour of others, he has no salvation for himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will have faith in him.
43. He put his faith in God; let God be his saviour now, if he will have him; for he said, I am the Son of God.
44. And the thieves who were on the crosses said evil words to him.
45. Now from the sixth hour it was dark over all the land till the ninth hour.
46. And about the ninth hour Jesus gave a loud cry, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why are you turned away from me?
47. And some of those who were near by, hearing it, said, This man is crying to Elijah.
48. And straight away one of them went quickly, and took a sponge, and made it full of bitter wine, and put it on a rod and gave him drink.
49. And the rest said, Let him be; let us see if Elijah will come to his help.
50. And Jesus gave another loud cry, and gave up his spirit.
51. And the curtain of the Temple was parted in two from end to end; and there was an earth-shock; and the rocks were broken;
52. And the resting-places of the dead came open; and the bodies of a number of sleeping saints came to life;
53. And coming out of their resting-places, after he had come again from the dead, they went into the holy town and were seen by a number of people.
54. Now the captain and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earth-shock and the things which were done, were in great fear and said, Truly this was a son of God.
55. And a number of women were there, watching from a distance, who had come with Jesus from Galilee, waiting on his needs.
56. Among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
57. And in the evening, there came a man of wealth from Arimathaea, Joseph by name, who was a disciple of Jesus:
58. This man went in to Pilate, and made a request for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate gave orders for it to be given to him.
59. And Joseph took the body, folding it in clean linen,
60. And put it in the resting-place which had been cut out of the rock for himself; and after rolling a great stone to the door of it he went away.
61. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, seated by the place of the dead.
62. Now on the day after the getting ready of the Passover, the chief priests and Pharisees came together to Pilate,
63. Saying, Sir, we have in mind how that false man said, while he was still living, After three days I will come again from the dead.
64. Give orders, then, that the place where his body is may be made safe till the third day, for fear that his disciples come and take him away secretly and say to the people, He has come back from the dead: and the last error will be worse than the first.
65. Pilate said to them, You have watchmen; go and make it as safe as you are able.
66. So they went, and made safe the place where his body was, putting a stamp on the stone, and the watchmen were with them.