Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Isaiah 61 / Basic English

1. The spirit of the Lord is on me, because I am marked out by him to give good news to the poor; he has sent me to make the broken-hearted well, to say that the prisoners will be made free, and that those in chains will see the light again;
2. To give knowledge that the year of the Lord's good pleasure has come, and the day of punishment from our God; to give comfort to all who are sad;
3. To give them a fair head-dress in place of dust, the oil of joy in place of the clothing of grief, praise in place of sorrow; so that they may be named trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and so that he may have glory.
4. And they will be building again the old broken walls, and will make new the old waste places, and will put up again the towns which have been waste for long generations.
5. And men from strange countries will be your herdsmen, and those who are not Israelites will be your ploughmen and vine-keepers.
6. But you will be named the priests of the Lord, the servants of our God: you will have the wealth of the nations for your food, and you will be clothed with their glory.
7. As they had twice as much grief, and marks of shame were their heritage, so in their land they will be rewarded twice over, and will have eternal joy.
8. For I, the Lord, take pleasure in upright judging; I will not put up with the violent taking away of right; and I will certainly give them their reward, and I will make an eternal agreement with them.
9. And their seed will be noted among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples: it will be clear to all who see them that they are the seed to which the Lord has given his blessing.
10. I will be full of joy in the Lord, my soul will be glad in my God; for he has put on me the clothing of salvation, covering me with the robe of righteousness, as the husband puts on a fair head-dress, and the bride makes herself beautiful with jewels.
11. For as the earth puts out buds, and as the garden gives growth to the seeds which are planted in it, so the Lord will make righteousness and praise to be flowering before all the nations.

Isaiah 62 / Basic English

1. Because of Zion I will not keep quiet, and because of Jerusalem I will take no rest, till her righteousness goes out like the shining of the sun, and her salvation like a burning light.
2. And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you will have a new name, given by the mouth of the Lord.
3. And you will be a fair crown in the hand of the Lord, and a king's head-dress in the hand of your God.
4. You will not now be named, She who is given up; and your land will no longer be named, The waste land: but you will have the name, My pleasure is in her, and your land will be named, Married: for the Lord has pleasure in you, and your land will be married.
5. For as a young man takes a virgin for his wife, so will your maker be married to you: and as a husband has joy in his bride, so will the Lord your God be glad over you.
6. I have put watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will not keep quiet day or night: you who are the Lord's recorders, take no rest,
7. And give him no rest, till he puts Jerusalem in her place to be praised in the earth.
8. The Lord has taken an oath by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Truly, I will no longer give your grain to be food for your haters; and men of strange countries will not take the wine for which your work has been done:
9. But those who have got in the grain will have it for their food, and will give praise to the Lord; and those who have got in the grapes will take the wine of them in the open places of my holy house.
10. Go through, go through the doors; make ready the way of the people; let the highway be lifted up; let the stones be taken away; let a flag be lifted up over the peoples.
11. The Lord has sent out word to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, See, your saviour comes; those whom he has made free are with him, and those to whom he has given salvation go before him.
12. And they will be named, The holy people, Those whose cause has been taken up by the Lord: and you will be named, Desired, A town not given up.

Isaiah 63 / Basic English

1. Who is this who comes from Edom, with blood-red robes from Bozrah? he whose clothing is fair, stepping with pride in his great strength? I whose glory is in the right, strong for salvation.
2. Why is your clothing red, and why are your robes like those of one who is crushing the grapes?
3. I have been crushing the grapes by myself, and of the peoples there was no man with me: in my wrath and in my passion, they were crushed under my feet; and my robes are marked with their life-blood, and all my clothing is red.
4. For the day of punishment is in my heart, and the year for the payment of the price for my people has come.
5. And I saw that there was no helper, and I was wondering that no one gave them support: so my arm did the work of salvation, and my wrath was my support.
6. And in my passion the peoples were crushed under my feet, and broken in my wrath, and I put down their strength to the earth.
7. I will give news of the mercies of the Lord, and his great acts, even all the things the Lord has done for us, in his great grace to the house of Israel; even all he has done for us in his unnumbered mercies.
8. For he said, Truly they are my people, children who will not be false: so he was their saviour out of all their trouble.
9. It was no sent one or angel, but he himself who was their saviour: in his love and in his pity he took up their cause, and he took them in his arms, caring for them all through the years.
10. But they went against him, causing grief to his holy spirit: so he was turned against them, and made war on them.
11. Then the early days came to their minds, the days of Moses his servant: and they said, Where is he who made the keeper of his flock come up from the sea? where is he who put his holy spirit among them,
12. He who made the arm of his glory go at the right hand of Moses, by whom the waters were parted before them, to make himself an eternal name;
13. He who made them go through the deep waters, like a horse in the waste land?
14. Like the cattle which go down into the valley, they went without falling, the spirit of the Lord guiding them: so you went before your people, to make yourself a great name.
15. Let your eyes be looking down from heaven, from your holy and beautiful house: where is your deep feeling, the working of your power? do not keep back the moving of your pity and your mercies:
16. For you are our father, though Abraham has no knowledge of us, and Israel gives no thought to us: you, O Lord, are our father; from the earliest days you have taken up our cause.
17. O Lord, why do you send us wandering from your ways, making our hearts hard, so that we have no fear of you? Come back, because of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.
18. Why have evil men gone over your holy place, so that it has been crushed under the feet of our haters?
19. We have become as those who were never ruled by you, on whom your name was not named.

Ephesians 1 / Basic English

1. Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the purpose of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and those who have faith in Christ Jesus:
2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us every blessing of the Spirit in the heavens in Christ:
4. Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love:
5. As we were designed before by him for the position of sons to himself, through Jesus Christ, in the good pleasure of his purpose,
6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely gave to us in the Loved One:
7. In whom we have salvation through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, through the wealth of his grace,
8. Which he gave us in full measure in all wisdom and care;
9. Having made clear to us the secret of his purpose, in agreement with the design which he had in mind, to put into his hands
10. The ordering of the times when they are complete, so that all things might come to a head in Christ, the things in heaven and the things on the earth; in him, I say,
11. In whom we have a heritage, being marked out from the first in his purpose who does all things in agreement with his designs;
12. So that his glory might have praise through us who first had hope in Christ:
13. In whom you, having been given the true word, the good news of your salvation, and through your faith in him, were given the sign of the Holy Spirit of hope,
14. Which is the first-fruit of our heritage, till God gets back that which is his, to the praise of his glory.
15. For this cause I, having had news of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and which you make clear to all the saints,
16. Give praise without end for you, keeping you in mind in my prayers;
17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;
18. And that having the eyes of your heart full of light, you may have knowledge of what is the hope of his purpose, what is the wealth of the glory of his heritage in the saints,
19. And how unlimited is his power to us who have faith, as is seen in the working of the strength of his power,
20. By which he made Christ come back from the dead, and gave him a place at his right hand in heaven,
21. Far over all rule and authority and power and every name which is named, not only in the present order, but in that which is to come:
22. And he has put all things under his feet, and has made him to be head over all things to the church,
23. Which is his body, the full measure of him in whom all things are made complete.