Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Jeremiah 33 / Basic English

1. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the place of the armed watchmen, saying,
2. These are the words of the Lord, who is doing it, the Lord who is forming it, to make it certain; the Lord is his name;
3. Let your cry come to me, and I will give you an answer, and let you see great things and secret things of which you had no knowledge.
4. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said about the houses of this town and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been broken down to make earthworks and ...;
5. ... and to make them full of the dead bodies of men whom I have put to death in my wrath and in my passion, and because of whose evil-doing I have kept my face covered from this town.
6. See, I will make it healthy and well again, I will even make them well; I will let them see peace and good faith in full measure.
7. And I will let the fate of Judah and of Israel be changed, building them up as at first.
8. And I will make them clean from all their sin, with which they have been sinning against me; I will have forgiveness for all their sins, with which they have been sinning against me, and with which they have done evil against me.
9. And this town will be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth, who, hearing of all the good which I am doing for them, will be shaking with fear because of all the good and the peace which I am doing for it.
10. This is what the Lord has said: There will again be sounding in this place, of which you say, It is a waste, without man and without beast; even in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem which are waste and unpeopled, without man and without beast,
11. Happy sounds, the voice of joy, the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who say, Give praise to the Lord of armies, for the Lord is good, for his mercy is unchanging for ever: the voices of those who go with praise into the house of the Lord. For I will let the land come back to its first condition, says the Lord.
12. This is what the Lord of armies has said: Again there will be in this place, which is a waste, without man and without beast, and in all its towns, a resting-place where the keepers of sheep will make their flocks take rest.
13. In the towns of the hill-country, in the towns of the lowland, and in the towns of the South and in the land of Benjamin and in the country round Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, the flocks will again go under the hand of him who is numbering them, says the Lord.
14. See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will give effect to the good word which I have said about the people of Israel and the people of Judah.
15. In those days and at that time, I will let a Branch of righteousness come up for David; and he will be a judge in righteousness in the land.
16. In those days, Judah will have salvation and Jerusalem will be safe: and this is the name which will be given to her: The Lord is our righteousness.
17. For the Lord has said, David will never be without a man to take his place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel;
18. And the priests and the Levites will never be without a man to come before me, offering burned offerings and perfumes and meal offerings and offerings of beasts at all times.
19. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
20. The Lord has said: If it is possible for my agreement of the day and the night to be broken, so that day and night no longer come at their fixed times,
21. Then my agreement with my servant David may be broken, so that he no longer has a son to take his place on the seat of the kingdom; and my agreement with the Levites, the priests, my servants.
22. As it is not possible for the army of heaven to be numbered, or the sand of the sea measured, so will I make the seed of my servant David, and the Levites my servants.
23. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
24. Have you taken note of what these people have said, The two families, which the Lord took for himself, he has given up? This they say, looking down on my people as being, in their eyes, no longer a nation.
25. The Lord has said, If I have not made day and night, and if the limits of heaven and earth have not been fixed by me,
26. Then I will give up caring for the seed of Jacob and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will let their fate be changed and will have mercy on them.

Jeremiah 34 / Basic English

1. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth which were under his rule, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and all its towns, saying,
2. The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, Go and say to Zedekiah, king of Judah, This is what the Lord has said: See, I will give this town into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will have it burned with fire:
3. And you will not get away from him, but will certainly be taken and given up into his hands; and you will see the king of Babylon, eye to eye, and he will have talk with you, mouth to mouth, and you will go to Babylon.
4. But give ear to the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah, king of Judah; this is what the Lord has said about you: Death will not come to you by the sword:
5. You will come to your end in peace; and such burnings as they made for your fathers, the earlier kings before you, will be made for you; and they will be weeping for you and saying, Ah lord! for I have said the word, says the Lord.
6. Then Jeremiah the prophet said all these things to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem,
7. When the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the towns of Judah which had not been taken, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these were the last of the walled towns of Judah.
8. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made an agreement with all the people in Jerusalem, to give news in public that servants were to be made free;
9. That every man was to let his Hebrew man-servant and his Hebrew servant-girl go free; so that no one might make use of a Jew, his countryman, as a servant:
10. And this was done by all the rulers and the people who had taken part in the agreement, and every one let his man-servant and his servant-girl go free, not to be used as servants any longer; they did so, and let them go.
11. But later, they took back again the servants and the servant-girls whom they had let go free, and put them again under the yoke as servants and servant-girls.
12. For this reason the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
13. The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, I made an agreement with your fathers on the day when I took them out of Egypt, out of the prison-house, saying,
14. At the end of seven years every man is to let go his countryman who is a Hebrew, who has become yours for a price and has been your servant for six years; you are to let him go free: but your fathers gave no attention and did not give ear.
15. And now, turning away from evil, you had done what is right in my eyes, giving a public undertaking for every man to make his neighbour free; and you had made an agreement before me in the house which is named by my name:
16. But again you have put shame on my name, and you have taken back, every one his man-servant and his servant-girl, whom you had sent away free, and you have put them under the yoke again to be your servants and servant-girls.
17. And so the Lord has said, You have not given ear to me and undertaken publicly, every man to let loose his countryman and his neighbour: see, I undertake to let loose against you the sword and disease and need of food; and I will send you wandering among all the kingdoms of the earth.
18. And I will give the men who have gone against my agreement and have not given effect to the words of the agreement which they made before me, when the ox was cut in two and they went between the parts of it,
19. The rulers of Judah and the rulers of Jerusalem, the unsexed servants and the priests and all the people of the land who went between the parts of the ox,
20. Even these I will give up into the hands of their haters and into the hands of those who have designs against their lives: and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth.
21. And Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his rulers I will give into the hands of their haters and into the hands of those who have designs against their lives, and into the hands of the king of Babylon's army which has gone away from you.
22. See, I will give orders, says the Lord, and make them come back to this town; and they will make war on it and take it and have it burned with fire: and I will make the towns of Judah waste and unpeopled.

1 Thessalonians 5 / Basic English

1. But about the times and their order, my brothers, there is no need for me to say anything to you.
2. For you yourselves have the knowledge that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
3. When they say, There is peace and no danger, then sudden destruction will come on them, as birth-pains on a woman with child; and they will not be able to get away from it.
4. But you, my brothers, are not in the dark, for that day to overtake you like a thief:
5. For you are all sons of light and of the day: we are not of the night or of the dark.
6. So then, let us not take our rest as the others do, but let us be self-controlled and awake.
7. For those who are sleeping do so in the night; and those who are the worse for drink are so in the night;
8. But let us, who are of the day, be serious, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and on our heads, the hope of salvation.
9. For God's purpose for us is not wrath, but salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
10. Who was put to death for us, so that, awake or sleeping, we may have a part in his life.
11. So then, go on comforting and building up one another, as you have been doing.
12. But we make this request to you, my brothers: give attention to those who are working among you, who are over you in the Lord to keep order among you;
13. And have a high opinion of them in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
14. And our desire is that you will keep control over those whose lives are not well ordered, giving comfort to the feeble-hearted, supporting those with little strength, and putting up with much from all.
15. Let no one give evil for evil; but ever go after what is good, for one another and for all.
16. Have joy at all times.
17. Keep on with your prayers.
18. In everything give praise: for this is the purpose of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19. Do not put out the light of the Spirit;
20. Do not make little of the words of the prophets;
21. Let all things be tested; keep to what is good;
22. Keep from every form of evil.
23. And may the God of peace himself make you holy in every way; and may your spirit and soul and body be free from all sin at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24. God, by whom you have been marked out in his purpose, is unchanging and will make it complete.
25. Brothers, keep us in mind in your prayers.
26. Give all the brothers a holy kiss.
27. I give orders in the name of the Lord that all the brothers are to be present at the reading of this letter.
28. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.