Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Isaiah 9 / Basic English

1. In earlier times he made the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali of small value, but after that he gave it glory, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2. The people who went in the dark have seen a great light, and for those who were living in the land of the deepest night, the light is shining.
3. You have made them very glad, increasing their joy. They are glad before you as men are glad in the time of getting in the grain, or when they make division of the goods taken in war.
4. For by your hand the yoke on his neck and the rod on his back, even the rod of his cruel master, have been broken, as in the day of Midian.
5. For every boot of the man of war with his sounding step, and the clothing rolled in blood, will be for burning, food for the fire.
6. For to us a child has come, to us a son is given; and the government has been placed in his hands; and he has been named Wise Guide, Strong God, Father for ever, Prince of Peace.
7. Of the increase of his rule and of peace there will be no end, on the seat of David, and in his kingdom; to make it strong, supporting it with wise decision and righteousness, now and for ever. By the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done.
8. The Lord has sent a word to Jacob, and it has come on Israel;
9. And all the people will have experience of it, even Ephraim and the men of Samaria, who say in the pride of their uplifted hearts,
10. The bricks have come down, but we will put up buildings of cut stone in their place: the sycamores are cut down, but they will be changed to cedars.
11. For this cause the Lord has made strong the haters of Israel, driving them on to make war against him;
12. Aram on the east, and the Philistines on the west, who have come against Israel with open mouths. For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
13. But the heart of the people was not turned to him who sent punishment on them, and they made no prayer to the Lord of armies.
14. For this cause the Lord took away from Israel head and tail, high and low, in one day.
15. The man who is honoured and responsible is the head, and the prophet who gives false teaching is the tail.
16. For the guides of this people are the cause of their wandering from the right way, and those who are guided by them come to destruction.
17. For this cause the Lord will have no pleasure in their young men, and no pity on their widows and the children without fathers: for they are all haters of God and evil-doers, and foolish words come from every mouth. For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
18. For evil was burning like a fire; the blackberries and thorns were burned up; the thick woods took fire, rolling up in dark clouds of smoke.
19. The land was dark with the wrath of the Lord of armies: the people were like those who take men's flesh for food.
20. On the right a man was cutting off bits and was still in need; on the left a man took a meal but had not enough; no man had pity on his brother; every man was making a meal of the flesh of his neighbour.
21. Manasseh was making a meal of Ephraim, and Ephraim of Manasseh; and together they were attacking Judah. For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Isaiah 10 / Basic English

1. Cursed are those who make evil decisions, and the writers who make the records of their cruel acts:
2. Who do wrong to the poor in their cause, and take away the right of the crushed among my people, so that they may have the property of widows, and get under their power those who have no father.
3. And what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the destruction which is coming from far? to whom will you go for help, and what will become of your glory?
4. ... For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
5. Ho! Assyrian, the rod of my wrath, the instrument of my punishment!
6. I will send him against a nation of wrongdoers, and against the people of my wrath I will give him orders, to take their wealth in war, crushing them down like the dust in the streets.
7. But this is not what is in his mind, and this is not his design; but his purpose is destruction, and the cutting off of more and more nations.
8. For he says, Are not all my captains kings?
9. Will not the fate of Calno be like that of Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
10. As my hand has come on the kingdoms of the images, whose pictured images were more in number than those of Jerusalem and Samaria;
11. So, as I have done to Samaria and her images, I will do to Jerusalem and her images.
12. For this cause it will be that, when the purpose of the Lord against Mount Zion and Jerusalem is complete, I will send punishment on the pride of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of his uplifted eyes.
13. For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my knowledge, for I am wise: and I have taken away the limits of the peoples' lands, and the stores of their wealth have become mine; and I have made towns low in the dust, sending destruction on those living in them;
14. And I have put my hands on the wealth of the peoples, as on the place where a bird has put her eggs; and as a man may take the eggs from which a bird has gone, so I have taken all the earth for myself: and not a wing was moved, and not a mouth gave out a sound.
15. Will the axe say high-sounding words against him who is using it, or the blade be full of pride against him who is cutting with it? As if a rod had the power of shaking him who is using it, or as if a stick might take up him who is not wood.
16. For this cause the Lord, the Lord of armies, will make his fat become wasted; and in his inner parts a fire will be lighted like a burning flame.
17. And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: wasting and burning up his thorns in one day.
18. And he will put an end to the glory of his woods and of his planted fields, soul and body together; and it will be as when a man is wasted by disease.
19. And the rest of the trees of his wood will be small in number, so that a child may put them down in writing.
20. And it will be in that day that the rest of Israel, and those of Jacob who have come safely through these troubles, will no longer go for help to him whose rod was on their back, but their faith will be in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
21. The rest, even the rest of Jacob, will come back to the Strong God.
22. For though your people, O Israel, are as the sand of the sea, only a small number will come back: for the destruction is fixed, overflowing in righteousness.
23. For the Lord, the Lord of armies, is about to make destruction complete in all the land.
24. For this cause the Lord, the Lord of armies, says, O my people living in Zion, have no fear of the Assyrian, even if his rod comes on your back, and his stick is lifted up as in Egypt.
25. For in a very short time my passion will be over, and my wrath will be turned to their destruction.
26. And the Lord of armies will be shaking a whip against him, as when he overcame Midian at the rock of Oreb: and his rod will be lifted up against them as it was against the Egyptians.
27. And in that day the weight which he put on your back will be taken away, and his yoke broken from off your neck.
28. He has gone up from Pene-Rimmon, he has come to Aiath; he has gone past Migron, at Michmash he puts his forces in order.
29. They have gone across the mountain; Geba will be our resting-place tonight, they say: Ramah is shaking with fear; Gibeah of Saul has gone in flight.
30. Give a loud cry, daughter of Gallim; let Laishah give ear; let Anathoth give answer to her.
31. Madmenah has gone; the men of Gebim are putting their goods in a safe place.
32. This very day he is stopping at Nob; he is shaking his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33. See, the Lord, the Lord of armies, is cutting off his branches with a great noise, and his strong ones are falling and his high ones are coming down.
34. And he is cutting down the thick places of the wood with an axe, and Lebanon with its tall trees is coming down.

1 Corinthians 15 / Basic English

1. Now I am going to make clear to you, my brothers, what the good news was which I gave to you, and which you took, and on which your faith is based,
2. By which you have salvation; that is to say, the form in which it was given to you, if it is fixed in your minds, and if your faith in it is not without effect.
3. For I gave to you first of all what was handed down to me, how Christ underwent death for our sins, as it says in the Writings;
4. And he was put in the place of the dead; and on the third day he came back from the dead, as it says in the Writings;
5. And he was seen by Cephas; then by the twelve;
6. Then by more than five hundred brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, but some are sleeping;
7. Then he was seen by James; then by all the Apostles.
8. And last of all, as by one whose birth was out of the right time, he was seen by me.
9. For I am the least of the Apostles, having no right to be named an Apostle, because of my cruel attacks on the church of God.
10. But by the grace of God, I am what I am: and his grace which was given to me has not been for nothing; for I did more work than all of them; though not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11. If then it is I who am the preacher, or they, this is our word, and to this you have given your faith.
12. Now if the good news says that Christ came back from the dead, how do some of you say that there is no coming back from the dead?
13. But if there is no coming back from the dead, then Christ has not come back from the dead:
14. And if Christ did not come again from the dead, then our good news and your faith in it are of no effect.
15. Yes, and we are seen to be false witnesses of God; because we gave witness of God that by his power Christ came again from the dead: which is not true if there is no coming back from the dead.
16. For if it is not possible for the dead to come to life again, then Christ has not come to life again:
17. And if that is so, your faith is of no effect; you are still in your sins.
18. And, in addition, the dead in Christ have gone to destruction.
19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most unhappy.
20. But now Christ has truly come back from the dead, the first-fruits of those who are sleeping.
21. For as by man came death, so by man there is a coming back from the dead.
22. For as in Adam death comes to all, so in Christ will all come back to life.
23. But every man in his right order: Christ the first-fruits; then those who are Christ's at his coming.
24. Then comes the end, when he will give up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have put an end to all rule and to all authority and power.
25. For his rule will go on till he has put all those who are against him under his feet.
26. The last power to come to an end is death.
27. For, as it says, He has put all things under his feet. But when he says, All things are put under him, it is clear that it is not said about him who put all things under him.
28. And when all things have been put under him, then will the Son himself be under him who put all things under him, so that God may be all in all.
29. Again, what will they do who are given baptism for the dead? if the dead do not come back at all, why are people given baptism for them?
30. And why are we in danger every hour?
31. Yes, truly, by your pride in me, my brothers in Christ Jesus our Lord, my life is one long death.
32. If, after the way of men, I was fighting with beasts at Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not come to life again, let us take our pleasure in feasting, for tomorrow we come to an end.
33. Do not be tricked by false words: evil company does damage to good behaviour.
34. Be awake to righteousness and keep yourselves from sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I say this to put you to shame.
35. But someone will say, How do the dead come back? and with what sort of body do they come?
36. Foolish man, it is necessary for the seed which you put into the earth to undergo death in order that it may come to life again:
37. And when you put it into the earth, you do not put in the body which it will be, but only the seed, of grain or some other sort of plant;
38. But God gives it a body, as it is pleasing to him, and to every seed its special body.
39. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one flesh of men, another of beasts, another of birds, and another of fishes.
40. And there are bodies of heaven and bodies of earth, but the glory of the one is different from that of the other.
41. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for the glory of one star is different from that of another.
42. So is it with the coming back from the dead. It is planted in death; it comes again in life:
43. It is planted in shame; it comes again in glory: feeble when it is planted, it comes again in power:
44. It is planted a natural body; it comes again as a body of the spirit. If there is a natural body, there is equally a body of the spirit.
45. And so it is said, The first man Adam was a living soul. The last Adam is a life-giving spirit.
46. But that which is natural comes before that which is of the spirit.
47. The first man is from the earth, and of the earth: the second man is from heaven.
48. Those who are of the earth are like the man who was from the earth: and those who are of heaven are like the one from heaven.
49. And in the same way as we have taken on us the image of the man from the earth, so we will take on us the image of the one from heaven.
50. Now I say this, my brothers, that it is not possible for flesh and blood to have a part in the kingdom of God; and death may not have a part in life.
51. See, I am giving you the revelation of a secret: we will not all come to the sleep of death, but we will all be changed.
52. In a second, in the shutting of an eye, at the sound of the last horn: for at that sound the dead will come again, free for ever from the power of death, and we will be changed.
53. For this body which comes to destruction will be made free from the power of death, and the man who is under the power of death will put on eternal life.
54. But when this has taken place, then that which was said in the Writings will come true, Death is overcome by life.
55. O death, where is your power? O death, where are your pains?
56. The pain of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law:
57. But praise be to God who gives us strength to overcome through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58. For this cause, my dear brothers, be strong in purpose and unmoved, ever giving yourselves to the work of the Lord, because you are certain that your work is not without effect in the Lord.