Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 5 / Basic English

1. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God made man, he made him in the image of God;
2. Male and female he made them, naming them Man, and giving them his blessing on the day when they were made.
3. Adam had been living for a hundred and thirty years when he had a son like himself, after his image, and gave him the name of Seth:
4. And after the birth of Seth, Adam went on living for eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters:
5. And all the years of Adam's life were nine hundred and thirty: and he came to his end.
6. And Seth was a hundred and five years old when he became the father of Enosh:
7. And he went on living after the birth of Enosh for eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters:
8. And all the years of Seth's life were nine hundred and twelve: and he came to his end.
9. And Enosh was ninety years old when he became the father of Kenan:
10. And after the birth of Kenan, Enosh went on living for eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters:
11. And all the years of Enosh were nine hundred and five: and he came to his end.
12. And Kenan was seventy years old when he became the father of Mahalalel:
13. And after the birth of Mahalalel, Kenan went on living for eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters:
14. And all the years of Kenan's life were nine hundred and ten; and he came to his end.
15. And Mahalalel was sixty-five years old when he became the father of Jared:
16. And after the birth of Jared, Mahalalel went on living for eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters:
17. And all the years of Mahalalel's life were eight hundred and ninety-five: and he came to his end.
18. And Jared was a hundred and sixty-two years old when he became the father of Enoch:
19. And Jared went on living after the birth of Enoch for eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters:
20. And all the years of Jared's life were nine hundred and sixty-two: and he came to his end.
21. And Enoch was sixty-five years old when he became the father of Methuselah:
22. And after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch went on in God's ways for three hundred years, and had sons and daughters:
23. And all the years of Enoch's life were three hundred and sixty-five:
24. And Enoch went on in God's ways: and he was not seen again, for God took him.
25. And Methuselah was a hundred and eighty-seven years old when he became the father of Lamech:
26. And after the birth of Lamech, Methuselah went on living for seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters:
27. And all the years of Methuselah's life were nine hundred and sixty-nine: and he came to his end.
28. And Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two years old when he had a son:
29. And he gave him the name of Noah, saying, Truly, he will give us rest from our trouble and the hard work of our hands, because of the earth which was cursed by God.
30. And after the birth of Noah, Lamech went on living for five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters:
31. And all the years of Lamech's life were seven hundred and seventy-seven: and he came to his end.
32. And when Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 6 / Basic English

1. And after a time, when men were increasing on the earth, and had daughters,
2. The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took wives for themselves from those who were pleasing to them.
3. And the Lord said, My spirit will not be in man for ever, for he is only flesh; so the days of his life will be a hundred and twenty years.
4. There were men of great strength and size on the earth in those days; and after that, when the sons of God had connection with the daughters of men, they gave birth to children: these were the great men of old days, the men of great name.
5. And the Lord saw that the sin of man was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts of his heart were evil.
6. And the Lord had sorrow because he had made man on the earth, and grief was in his heart.
7. And the Lord said, I will take away man, whom I have made, from the face of the earth, even man and beast and that which goes on the earth and every bird of the air; for I have sorrow for having made them.
8. But Noah had grace in the eyes of God.
9. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was an upright man and without sin in his generation: he went in the ways of God.
10. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11. And the earth was evil in God's eyes and full of violent ways.
12. And God, looking on the earth, saw that it was evil: for the way of all flesh had become evil on the earth.
13. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come; the earth is full of their violent doings, and now I will put an end to them with the earth.
14. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood with rooms in it, and make it safe from the water inside and out.
15. And this is the way you are to make it: it is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
16. You are to put a window in the ark, a cubit from the roof, and a door in the side of it, and you are to make it with a lower and second and third floors.
17. For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth, for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on the earth will come to an end.
18. But with you I will make an agreement; and you will come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
19. And you will take with you into the ark two of every sort of living thing, and keep them safe with you; they will be male and female.
20. Two of every sort of bird and cattle and of every sort of living thing which goes on the earth will you take with you to keep them from destruction.
21. And make a store of every sort of food for yourself and them.
22. And all these things Noah did; as God said, so he did.

Matthew 3 / Basic English

1. And in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the waste land of Judaea,
2. Saying, Let your hearts be turned from sin; for the kingdom of heaven is near.
3. For this is he of whom Isaiah the prophet said, The voice of one crying in the waste land, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his roads straight.
4. Now John was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather band about him; and his food was locusts and honey.
5. Then Jerusalem and all Judaea went out to him, and all the people from near Jordan;
6. And they were given baptism by him in the river Jordan, saying openly that they had done wrong.
7. But when he saw a number of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Offspring of snakes, at whose word are you going in flight from the wrath to come?
8. Let your change of heart be seen in your works:
9. And say not to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father; because I say to you that God is able from these stones to make children for Abraham.
10. And even now the axe is put to the root of the trees; every tree then which does not give good fruit is cut down, and put into the fire.
11. Truly, I give baptism with water to those of you whose hearts are changed; but he who comes after me is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to take up: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire:
12. In whose hand is the instrument with which he will make clean his grain; he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned up in the fire which will never be put out.
13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be given baptism by him.
14. But John would have kept him back, saying, It is I who have need of baptism from you, and do you come to me?
15. But Jesus made answer, saying to him, Let it be so now: because so it is right for us to make righteousness complete. Then he gave him baptism.
16. And Jesus, having been given baptism, straight away went up from the water; and, the heavens opening, he saw the Spirit of God coming down on him as a dove;
17. And a voice came out of heaven, saying, This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 4 / Basic English

1. Then Jesus was sent by the Spirit into the waste land to be tested by the Evil One.
2. And after going without food for forty days and forty nights, he was in need of it.
3. And the Evil One came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, give the word for these stones to become bread.
4. But he made answer and said, It is in the Writings, Bread is not man's only need, but every word which comes out of the mouth of God.
5. Then the Evil One took him to the holy town; and he put him on the highest point of the Temple and said to him,
6. If you are the Son of God, let yourself go down; for it is in the Writings, He will give his angels care over you; and, In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone.
7. Jesus said to him, Again it is in the Writings, You may not put the Lord your God to the test.
8. Again, the Evil One took him up to a very high mountain, and let him see all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;
9. And he said to him, All these things will I give you, if you will go down on your face and give me worship.
10. Then said Jesus to him, Away, Satan: for it is in the Writings, Give worship to the Lord your God and be his servant only.
11. Then the Evil One went away from him, and angels came and took care of him.
12. Now when it came to his ears that John had been put in prison, he went away to Galilee;
13. And going away from Nazareth, he came and made his living-place in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the country of Zebulun and Naphtali:
14. So that the word of the prophet Isaiah might come true,
15. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
16. The people who were in the dark saw a great light, and to those in the land of the shade of death did the dawn come up.
17. From that time Jesus went about preaching and saying, Let your hearts be turned from sin, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
18. And when he was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, whose other name was Peter, and Andrew, his brother, who were putting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
19. And he said to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20. And straight away they let go the nets and went after him.
21. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with their father, stitching up their nets; and he said, Come.
22. And they went straight from the boat and their father and came after him.
23. And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom, and making well those who were ill with any disease among the people.
24. And news of him went out through all Syria; and they took to him all who were ill with different diseases and pains, those having evil spirits and those who were off their heads, and those who had no power of moving. And he made them well.
25. And there went after him great numbers from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judaea and from the other side of Jordan.