Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Jeremiah 7 / Basic English

1. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2. Take your place in the doorway of the Lord's house, and give out this word there, and say, Give ear to the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who come inside these doors to give worship to the Lord.
3. The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says, Let your ways and your doings be changed for the better and I will let you go on living in this place.
4. Put no faith in false words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these.
5. For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour;
6. If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves:
7. Then I will let you go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for ever.
8. See, you put your faith in false words which are of no profit.
9. Will you take the goods of others, put men to death, and be untrue to your wives, and take false oaths, and have perfumes burned to the Baal, and go after other gods which are strange to you;
10. And come and take your place before me in this house, which is named by my name, and say, We have been made safe; so that you may do all these disgusting things?
11. Has this house, which is named by my name, become a hole of thieves to you? Truly I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord.
12. But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I put my name at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil-doing of my people Israel.
13. And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I sent my word to you, getting up early and sending, but you did not give ear; and my voice came to you, but you gave no answer:
14. For this reason I will do to the house which is named by my name, and in which you have put your faith, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15. And I will send you away from before my face, as I have sent away all your brothers, even all the seed of Ephraim.
16. And as for you (Jeremiah), make no prayers for this people, send up no cry or prayer for them, make no request for them to me: for I will not give ear.
17. Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18. The children go for wood, the fathers get the fire burning, the women are working the paste to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and drink offerings are drained out to other gods, moving me to wrath.
19. Are they moving me to wrath? says the Lord; are they not moving themselves to their shame?
20. So this is what the Lord God has said: See, my wrath and my passion will be let loose on this place, on man and beast, and on the trees of the field, and on the produce of the earth; it will be burning and will not be put out.
21. These are the words of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel: Put your burned offerings with your offerings of beasts, and take flesh for your food.
22. For I said nothing to your fathers, and gave them no orders, on the day when I took them out of Egypt, about burned offerings or offerings of beasts:
23. But this was the order I gave them, saying, Give ear to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people: go in all the way ordered by me, so that all may be well for you.
24. But they took no note and did not give ear, but were guided by the thoughts and the pride of their evil hearts, going back and not forward.
25. From the day when your fathers came out of Egypt till this day, I have sent my servants the prophets to you, getting up early every day and sending them:
26. But still they took no note and would not give ear, but they made their necks stiff, doing worse than their fathers.
27. And you are to say all these words to them, but they will not give ear to you: you will send out your voice to them, but they will give no answer.
28. And you are to say to them, This is the nation which has not given ear to the voice of their God, or taken his teaching to heart: good faith is dead and is cut off from their mouths.
29. Let your hair be cut off, O Jerusalem, and let it go, and let a song of grief go up on the open hilltops; for the Lord is turned away from the generation of his wrath and has given them up.
30. For the children of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes, says the Lord: they have put their disgusting images in the house which is named by my name, making it unclean.
31. And they have put up the high place of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, burning their sons and their daughters there in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me and never came into my mind.
32. For this cause, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it will no longer be named Topheth, or, The valley of the son of Hinnom, but, The valley of Death: for they will put the dead into the earth in Topheth till there is no more room.
33. And the bodies of this people will be food for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and there will be no one to send them away.
34. And in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, I will put an end to the laughing voices, the voice of joy and the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride: for the land will become a waste.

Jeremiah 8 / Basic English

1. At that time, says the Lord, they will take the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his rulers, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem out of their resting-places:
2. And they will put them out before the sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven, whose lovers and servants they have been, after whom they have gone, to whom they have made prayers, and to whom they have given worship: they will not be put together or placed in the earth; they will be waste on the face of the earth.
3. And death will be desired more than life by the rest of this evil family who are still living in all the places where I have sent them away, says the Lord of armies.
4. Further, you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Will those who are falling not be lifted up again? will he who has gone away not come back?
5. Why do these people of Jerusalem go back, for ever turning away? they will not give up their deceit, they will not come back.
6. I took note and gave ear, but no one said what is right: no man had regret for his evil-doing, saying, What have I done? everyone goes off on his way like a horse rushing to the fight.
7. Truly, the stork in the heavens is conscious of her fixed times; the dove and the swallow and the crane keep to the times of their coming; but my people have no knowledge of the law of the Lord.
8. How is it that you say, We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? But see, the false pen of the scribes has made it false.
9. The wise men are shamed, they are overcome with fear and taken: see, they have given up the word of the Lord; and what use is their wisdom to them?
10. So I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who will take them for themselves: for everyone, from the least to the greatest, is given up to getting money; from the priest even to the prophet, everyone is false.
11. And they have made little of the wounds of the daughter of Zion, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
12. Let them be put to shame because they have done disgusting things. They had no shame, they were not able to become red with shame: so they will come down with those who are falling: in the time of their punishment they will be made low, says the Lord.
13. I will put an end to them completely, says the Lord: there are no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig-tree, and the leaf is dry.
14. Why are we seated doing nothing? come together, and let us go to the walled towns, and let destruction overtake us there, for the Lord our God has sent destruction on us, and given us bitter water for our drink, because we have done evil against the Lord.
15. We were looking for peace, but no good came; and for a time of well-being, but there is only a great fear.
16. The loud breathing of the horses comes to our ears from Dan: at the sound of the outcry of his war-horses, all the land is shaking with fear; for they have come, and have made a meal of the land and everything in it; the town and the people living in it.
17. See, I will send snakes and poison-snakes among you, against which the wonder-worker has no power; and they will give you wounds which may not be made well, says the Lord.
18. Sorrow has come on me! my heart in me is feeble.
19. The voice of the cry of the daughter of my people comes from a far land: Is the Lord not in Zion? is not her King in her? Why have they made me angry with their images and their strange gods which are no gods?
20. The grain-cutting is past, the summer is ended, and no salvation has come to us.
21. For the destruction of the daughter of my people I am broken: I am dressed in the clothing of grief; fear has taken me in its grip.
22. Is there no life-giving oil in Gilead? is there no expert in medical arts? why then have my people not been made well?

Ephesians 6 / Basic English

1. Children, do what is ordered by your fathers and mothers in the Lord: for this is right.
2. Give honour to your father and mother (which is the first rule having a reward),
3. So that all may be well for you, and your life may be long on the earth.
4. And, you fathers, do not make your children angry: but give them training in the teaching and fear of the Lord.
5. Servants, do what is ordered by those who are your natural masters, having respect and fear for them, with all your heart, as to Christ;
6. Not only under your master's eye, as pleasers of men; but as servants of Christ, doing the pleasure of God from the heart;
7. Doing your work readily, as to the Lord, and not to men:
8. In the knowledge that for every good thing anyone does, he will have his reward from the Lord, If he is a servant or if he is free.
9. And, you masters, do the same things to them, not making use of violent words: in the knowledge that their Master and yours is in heaven, and he has no respect for a man's position.
10. Lastly, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his power.
11. Take up God's instruments of war, so that you may be able to keep your position against all the deceits of the Evil One.
12. For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against authorities and powers, against the world-rulers of this dark night, against the spirits of evil in the heavens.
13. For this reason take up all the arms of God, so that you may be able to be strong in the evil day, and, having done all, to keep your place.
14. Take your place, then, having your body clothed with the true word, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness;
15. Be ready with the good news of peace as shoes on your feet;
16. And most of all, using faith as a cover to keep off all the flaming arrows of the Evil One.
17. And take salvation for your head-dress and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18. With prayers and deep desires, making requests at all times in the Spirit, and keeping watch, with strong purpose, in prayer for all the saints,
19. And for me, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make clear without fear the secret of the good news,
20. For which I am a representative in chains, and that I may say without fear the things which it is right for me to say.
21. But so that you may have knowledge of my business, and how I am, Tychicus, the well-loved brother and tested servant in the Lord, will give you news of all things:
22. Whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, so that you may have knowledge of our position, and that he may give comfort to your hearts.
23. Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
24. Grace be with all those who have true love for our Lord Jesus Christ.