Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Isaiah 4 / Basic English

1. And in that day seven women will put their hands on one man, saying, There will be no need for you to give us food or clothing, only let us go under your name, so that our shame may be taken away.
2. In that day will the young growth of the Lord be beautiful in glory, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride of those who are still living in Israel.
3. And it will come about that the rest of the living in Zion, and of those who have been kept from destruction in Jerusalem, will be named holy, even everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem:
4. When Zion has been washed from her sin by the Lord, and Jerusalem made clean from her blood by a judging and a burning wind.
5. And over every living-place on Mount Zion, all over all her meetings, the Lord will make a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all, the glory of the Lord will be a cover and a tent;
6. And a shade in the daytime from the heat, and a safe cover from storm and from rain.

Isaiah 5 / Basic English

1. Let me make a song about my loved one, a song of love for his vine-garden. My loved one had a vine-garden on a fertile hill:
2. And after working the earth of it with a spade, he took away its stones, and put in it a very special vine; and he put up a watchtower in the middle of it, hollowing out in the rock a place for the grape-crushing; and he was hoping that it would give the best grapes, but it gave common grapes.
3. And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden.
4. Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes?
5. And now, this is what I will do to my vine-garden: I will take away the circle of thorns round it, and it will be burned up; its wall will be broken down and the beasts of the field will go through it;
6. And I will make it waste; its branches will not be touched with the knife, or the earth worked with the spade; but blackberries and thorns will come up in it: and I will give orders to the clouds not to send rain on it.
7. For the vine-garden of the Lord of armies is the people of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he was looking for upright judging, and there was blood; for righteousness, and there was a cry for help.
8. Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land!
9. The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them.
10. For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.
11. Cursed are those who get up early in the morning to give themselves up to strong drink; who keep on drinking far into the night till they are heated with wine!
12. And corded instruments and wind-instruments and wine are in their feasts: but they give no thought to the work of the Lord, and they are not interested in what his hands are doing.
13. For this cause my people are taken away as prisoners into strange countries for need of knowledge: and their rulers are wasted for need of food, and their loud-voiced feasters are dry for need of water.
14. For this cause the underworld has made wide its throat, opening its mouth without limit: and her glory, and the noise of her masses, and her loud-voiced feasters, will go down into it.
15. And the poor man's head is bent, and the great man goes down on his face, and the eyes of pride are put to shame:
16. But the Lord of armies is lifted up as judge, and the Holy God is seen to be holy in righteousness.
17. Then the lambs will get food as in their grass-lands, and the fat cattle will be feasting in the waste places.
18. Cursed are those who make use of ox-cords for pulling the evil thing, and the bands of a young ox for their sin!
19. Who say, Let him do his work quickly, let him make it sudden, so that we may see it: let the design of the Holy One of Israel come near, so that it may be clear to us.
20. Cursed are those who give the name of good to evil, and of evil to what is good: who make light dark, and dark light: who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter!
21. Cursed are those who seem wise to themselves, and who take pride in their knowledge!
22. Cursed are those who are strong to take wine, and great in making mixed drinks!
23. Who for a reward give support to the cause of the sinner, and who take away the righteousness of the upright from him.
24. For this cause, as the waste of the grain is burned up by tongues of fire, and as the dry grass goes down before the flame, so their root will be like the dry stems of grain, and their flower will go up in dust: because they have gone against the law of the Lord of armies, and have given no honour to the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25. For this reason the wrath of the Lord has been burning against his people, and his hand has been stretched out against them in punishment, and the hills were shaking, and their dead bodies were like waste in the open places of the town.
26. And he will let a flag be lifted up as a sign to a far-off nation, whistling to them from the ends of the earth: and they will come quickly and suddenly.
27. There is no weariness among them, and no man is feeble-footed: they come without resting or sleeping, and the cord of their shoes is not broken.
28. Their arrows are sharp, and every bow is bent: the feet of their horses are like rock, and their wheels are like a rushing storm.
29. The sound of their armies will be like the voice of a lion, and their war-cry like the noise of young lions: with loud cries they will come down on their food and will take it away safely, and there will be no one to take it out of their hands.
30. And his voice will be loud over him in that day like the sounding of the sea: and if a man's eyes are turned to the earth, it is all dark and full of trouble; and the light is made dark by thick clouds.

Isaiah 6 / Basic English

1. In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord seated in his place, high and lifted up, and the Temple was full of the wide skirts of his robe.
2. Over him were the winged ones: every one had six wings; two for covering his face, two for covering his feed, and two for flight.
3. And one said in a loud voice to another, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of armies: all the earth is full of his glory.
4. And the bases of the door-pillars were shaking at the sound of his cry, and the house was full of smoke.
5. Then I said, The curse is on me, and my fate is destruction; for I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies.
6. Then a winged one came to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from off the altar with the fire-spoon.
7. And after touching my mouth with it, he said, See, your lips have been touched with this; and your evil is taken away, and you are made clean from sin.
8. And the voice of the Lord came to my ears, saying, Whom am I to send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me.
9. And he said, Go, and say to this people, You will go on hearing, but learning nothing; you will go on seeing, but without getting wiser.
10. Make the hearts of this people fat, and let their ears be stopped, and their eyes shut; for fear that they may see with their eyes, and be hearing with their ears, and their heart may become wise, and they may be turned to me and made well.
11. Then I said, Lord, how long? And he said in answer, Till the towns are waste and unpeopled, and the houses have no men, and the land becomes completely waste,
12. And the Lord has taken men far away, and there are wide waste places in the land.
13. And even if there is still a tenth part in it, it will again be burned, like a tree of the woods whose broken end is still in the earth after the tree has been cut down (the holy seed is the broken end).

1 Corinthians 13 / Basic English

1. If I make use of the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am like sounding brass, or a loud-tongued bell.
2. And if I have a prophet's power, and have knowledge of all secret things; and if I have all faith, by which mountains may be moved from their place, but have not love, I am nothing.
3. And if I give all my goods to the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it is of no profit to me.
4. Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride;
5. Love's ways are ever fair, it takes no thought for itself; it is not quickly made angry, it takes no account of evil;
6. It takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, but has joy in what is true;
7. Love has the power of undergoing all things, having faith in all things, hoping all things.
8. Though the prophet's word may come to an end, tongues come to nothing, and knowledge have no more value, love has no end.
9. For our knowledge is only in part, and the prophet's word gives only a part of what is true:
10. But when that which is complete is come, then that which is in part will be no longer necessary.
11. When I was a child, I made use of a child's language, I had a child's feelings and a child's thoughts: now that I am a man, I have put away the things of a child.
12. For now we see things in a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now my knowledge is in part; then it will be complete, even as God's knowledge of me.
13. But now we still have faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.