Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Isaiah 32 / Basic English

1. See, a king will be ruling in righteousness, and chiefs will give right decisions.
2. And a man will be as a safe place from the wind, and a cover from the storm; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a waste land.
3. And the eyes of those who see will not be shut, and those who have hearing will give ear to the word.
4. The man of sudden impulses will become wise in heart, and he whose tongue is slow will get the power of talking clearly.
5. The foolish man will no longer be named noble, and they will not say of the false man that he is a man of honour.
6. For the foolish man will say foolish things, having evil thoughts in his heart, working what is unclean, and talking falsely about the Lord, to keep food from him who is in need of it, and water from him whose soul is desiring it.
7. The designs of the false are evil, purposing the destruction of the poor man by false words, even when he is in the right.
8. But the noble-hearted man has noble purposes, and by these he will be guided.
9. Give ear to my voice, you women who are living in comfort; give attention to my words, you daughters who have no fear of danger.
10. In not much more than a year, you, who are not looking for evil, will be troubled: for the produce of the vine-gardens will be cut off, and there will be no getting in of the grapes.
11. Be shaking with fear, you women who are living in comfort; be troubled, you who have no fear of danger: take off your robes and put on clothing of grief.
12. Have sorrow for the fields, the pleasing fields, the fertile vine;
13. And for the land of my people, where thorns will come up; even for all the houses of joy in the glad town.
14. For the fair houses will have no man living in them; the town which was full of noise will become a waste; the hill and the watchtower will be unpeopled for ever, a joy for the asses of the woods, a place of food for the flocks;
15. Till the spirit comes on us from on high, and the waste land becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field is changed into a wood.
16. Then in the waste land there will be an upright rule, and righteousness will have its place in the fertile field.
17. And the work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of an upright rule will be to take away fear for ever.
18. And my people will be living in peace, in houses where there is no fear, and in quiet resting-places.
19. But the tall trees will come down with a great fall, and the town will be low in a low place.
20. Happy are you who are planting seed by all the waters, and sending out the ox and the ass.

Isaiah 33 / Basic English

1. Ho! you who make waste those who did not make you waste; acting falsely to those who were not false to you. When you have come to an end of wasting, you will be made waste, and after your false acts, they will do the same to you.
2. O Lord, have mercy on us; for we have been waiting for your help: be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of trouble.
3. At the loud noise the peoples have gone in flight; at your coming up the nations have gone in all directions.
4. And the goods taken in war will be got together like the massing of young locusts; men will be rushing on them like the rushing of locusts.
5. The Lord is lifted up; his place is on high: he has made Zion full of righteousness and true religion.
6. And she will have no more fear of change, being full of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is her wealth.
7. See, the men of war are sorrowing outside the town: those who came looking for peace are weeping bitterly.
8. The highways are waste, no man is journeying there: the agreement is broken, he has made sport of the towns, he has no thought for man.
9. The earth is sorrowing and wasting away; Lebanon is put to shame and has become waste; Sharon is like the Arabah; and in Bashan and Carmel the leaves are falling.
10. Now will I come forward, says the Lord; now will I be lifted up; now will my power be seen.
11. Your designs will be without profit, and their effect will be nothing: you will be burned up by the fire of my breath.
12. And the peoples will be like the burning of chalk: as thorns cut down, which are burned in the fire.
13. Give ear, you who are far off, to what I have done: see my power, you who are near.
14. The sinners in Zion are full of fear; the haters of God are shaking with wonder. Who among us may keep his place before the burning fire? who among us may see the eternal burnings?
15. He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil;
16. He will have a place on high: he will be safely shut in by the high rocks: his bread will be given to him; his waters will be certain.
17. Your eyes will see the king in his glory: they will be looking on a far-stretching land.
18. Your heart will give thought to the cause of your fear: where is the scribe, where is he who made a record of the payments, where is he by whom the towers were numbered?
19. Never again will you see the cruel people, a people whose tongue has no sense for you; whose language is strange to you.
20. Let your eyes be resting on Zion, the town of our holy feasts: you will see Jerusalem, a quiet resting-place, a tent which will not be moved, whose tent-pins will never be pulled up, and whose cords will never be broken.
21. But there the Lord will be with us in his glory, ... wide rivers and streams; where no boat will go with blades, and no fair ship will be sailing.
22. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king; he will be our saviour.
23. Your cords have become loose; they were not able to make strong the support of their sails, the sail was not stretched out: then the blind will take much property, the feeble-footed will make division of the goods of war.
24. And the men of Zion will not say, I am ill: for its people will have forgiveness for their sin.

2 Corinthians 8 / Basic English

1. And now we give you news, brothers, about the grace of God which has been given to the churches of Macedonia;
2. How while they were undergoing every sort of trouble, and were in the greatest need, they took all the greater joy in being able to give freely to the needs of others.
3. For I give them witness, that as they were able, and even more than they were able, they gave from the impulse of their hearts,
4. Seriously requesting us that they might have a part in this grace of being servants to the needs of the saints:
5. And going even farther than our hope, they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us after the purpose of God.
6. So that we made a request to Titus that, as he had made a start before, so he might make this grace complete in you.
7. And that as you are full of every good thing, of faith, of the word, of knowledge, of a ready mind, and of love to us, so you may be full of this grace in the same way.
8. I am not giving you an order, but using the ready mind of others as a test of the quality of your love.
9. For you see the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how though he had wealth, he became poor on your account, so that through his need you might have wealth.
10. And in this I give my opinion: for it is to your profit, who were the first to make a start a year before, not only to do this, but to make clear that your minds were more than ready to do it.
11. Then make the doing of it complete; so that as you had a ready mind, you may give effect to it as you are able.
12. For if there is a ready mind, a man will have God's approval in the measure of what he has, and not of what he has not.
13. And I am not saying this so that others may get off free, while the weight comes on you:
14. But so that things may be equal; that from those things of which you have more than enough at the present time their need may be helped, and that if you are in any need they may be a help to you in the same way, making things equal.
15. As it says in the Writings, He who had taken up much had nothing over and he who had little had enough.
16. But praise be to God, who puts the same care for you into the heart of Titus.
17. For while he gladly gave ear to our request, he was interested enough to go to you from the impulse of his heart.
18. And with him we have sent a brother whose praise in the good news has gone through all the churches;
19. And not only so, but he was marked out by the churches to go with us in the grace of this giving which we have undertaken to the glory of the Lord and to make clear that our mind was ready:
20. And so that no man might be able to say anything against us in the business of this giving which has been put into our hands:
21. For the business has been so ordered by us as to have the approval, not only of the Lord, but of men.
22. And we have sent with them our brother, whose ready spirit has been made clear to us at times and in ways without number, but it is now all the more so because of the certain faith which he has in you.
23. If any question comes up about Titus, he is my brother-worker, working with me for you; or about the others, they are the representatives of the churches to the glory of Christ.
24. Make clear then to them, as representatives of the churches, the quality of your love, and that the things which we have said about you are true.