Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Ezekiel 8 / Basic English

1. Now in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in my house and the responsible men of Judah were seated before me, the hand of the Lord came on me there.
2. And looking, I saw a form like fire; from the middle of his body and down there was fire: and up from the middle of his body a sort of shining, like electrum.
3. And he put out the form of a hand and took me by the hair of my head; and the wind, lifting me up between the earth and the heaven, took me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the way into the inner door facing to the north; where was the seat of the image of envy.
4. And I saw the glory of the Lord there, as in the vision which I saw in the valley.
5. Then he said to me, Son of man, now let your eyes be lifted up in the direction of the north; and on looking in the direction of the north, to the north of the doorway of the altar, I saw this image of envy by the way in.
6. And he said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? even the very disgusting things which the children of Israel are doing here, causing me to go far away from my holy place? but you will see other most disgusting things.
7. And he took me to the door of the open place; and looking, I saw a hole in the wall.
8. And he said to me, Son of man, make a hole in the wall: and after making a hole in the wall I saw a door.
9. And he said to me, Go in and see the evil and disgusting things which they are doing here.
10. So I went in and saw; and there every sort of living thing which goes flat on the earth, and unclean beasts, and all the images of the children of Israel, were pictured round about on the wall.
11. And before them seventy of the responsible men of the children of Israel had taken their places, every man with a vessel for burning perfumes in his hand, and in the middle of them was Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan; and a cloud of smoke went up from the burning perfume.
12. And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the responsible men of the children of Israel do in the dark, every man in his room of pictured images? for they say, The Lord does not see us; the Lord has gone away from the land.
13. Then he said to me, You will see even more disgusting things which they do.
14. Then he took me to the door of the way into the Lord's house looking to the north; and there women were seated weeping for Tammuz.
15. Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? you will see even more disgusting things than these.
16. And he took me into the inner square of the Lord's house, and at the door of the Temple of the Lord, between the covered way and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs turned to the Temple of the Lord and their faces turned to the east; and they were worshipping the sun, turning to the east.
17. Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? is it a small thing to the children of Judah that they do the disgusting things which they are doing here? for they have made the land full of violent behaviour, making me angry again and again: and see, they put the branch to my nose.
18. For this reason I will let loose my wrath: my eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity.

Ezekiel 9 / Basic English

1. Then crying out in my hearing in a loud voice, he said, Let the overseers of the town come near, every man armed.
2. And six men came from the way of the higher doorway looking to the north, every man with his axe in his hand: and one man among them was clothed in linen, with a writer's inkpot at his side. And they went in and took their places by the brass altar.
3. And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the winged ones on which it was resting, to the doorstep of the house. And crying out to the man clothed in linen who had the writer's inkpot at his side,
4. The Lord said to him, Go through the town, through the middle of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the brows of the men who are sorrowing and crying for all the disgusting things which are done in it.
5. And to these he said in my hearing, Go through the town after him using your axes: do not let your eyes have mercy, and have no pity:
6. Give up to destruction old men and young men and virgins, little children and women: but do not come near any man who has the mark on him: and make a start at my holy place. So they made a start with the old men who were before the house.
7. And he said to them, Make the house unclean, make the open places full of dead: go forward and send destruction on the town.
8. Now while they were doing so, and I was untouched, I went down on my face, and crying out, I said, Ah, Lord! will you give all the rest of Israel to destruction in letting loose your wrath on Jerusalem?
9. Then he said to me, The sin of the children of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is full of blood and the town full of evil ways: for they say, The Lord has gone away from the land, and the Lord does not see.
10. And as for me, my eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity, but I will send the punishment of their ways on their heads.
11. Then the man clothed in linen, who had the inkpot at his side, came back and said, I have done what you gave me orders to do.

Ezekiel 10 / Basic English

1. Then looking, I saw that on the arch which was over the head of the winged ones there was seen over them what seemed like a sapphire stone, having the form of a king's seat.
2. And he said to the man clothed in linen, Go in between the wheels, under the winged ones, and get your two hands full of burning coals from between the winged ones and send them in a shower over the town. And he went in before my eyes.
3. Now the winged ones were stationed on the right side of the house when the man went in; and the inner square was full of the cloud.
4. And the glory of the Lord went up from the winged ones and came to rest over the doorstep of the house; and the house was full of the cloud and the open square was full of the shining of the Lord's glory.
5. And the sound of the wings of the winged ones was clear even in the outer square, like the voice of the Ruler of all.
6. And when he gave orders to the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the winged ones, then he went in and took his place at the side of a wheel.
7. And stretching out his hand to the fire which was between the winged ones, he took some of it and went out.
8. And I saw the form of a man's hands among the winged ones under their wings.
9. And looking, I saw four wheels by the side of the winged ones, one wheel by the side of a winged one and another wheel by the side of another: and the wheels were like the colour of a beryl stone to the eye.
10. In form the four of them were all the same, they seemed like a wheel inside a wheel.
11. When they were moving, they went on their four sides without turning; they went after the head in the direction in which it was looking; they went without turning.
12. And the edges of the four wheels were full of eyes round about.
13. As for the wheels, they were named in my hearing, the circling wheels.
14. And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a winged one, and the second was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15. And the winged ones went up on high: this is the living being which I saw by the river Chebar.
16. And when the winged ones went, the wheels went by their side: and when their wings were lifted to take them up from the earth, the wheels were not turned from their side.
17. When they were at rest in their place, these were at rest; when they were lifted up, these went up with them: for the spirit of life was in them.
18. Then the glory of the Lord went out from the doorstep of the house, and came to rest over the winged ones.
19. And the winged ones, lifting up their wings, went up from the earth before my eyes, with the wheels by their side: and they came to rest at the east doorway of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them on high.
20. This is the living being which I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and it was clear to me that they were the winged ones.
21. Every one had four faces and every one had four wings; and hands like a man's hands were under their wings.
22. As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose form I saw by the river Chebar; when they went, every one of them went straight forward.

Titus 2 / Basic English

1. But let your words be in agreement with true and right teaching:
2. That old men are to be simple in their tastes, serious, wise, true in faith, in love, and of a quiet mind.
3. That old women are to be self-respecting in behaviour, not saying evil of others, not given to taking much wine, teachers of that which is good,
4. Training the younger women to have love for their husbands and children,
5. To be wise in mind, clean in heart, kind; working in their houses, living under the authority of their husbands; so that no evil may be said of the word of God.
6. To the young men give orders to be wise and serious-minded:
7. In all things see that you are an example of good works; holy in your teaching, serious in behaviour,
8. Saying true and right words, against which no protest may be made, so that he who is not on our side may be put to shame, unable to say any evil of us.
9. Servants are to be under the authority of their masters, pleasing them in all things, without argument;
10. Not taking what is not theirs, but giving clear signs of their good faith, in all things doing credit to the teaching of God our Saviour.
11. For the grace of God has come, giving salvation to all men,
12. Training us so that, turning away from evil and the desires of this world, we may be living wisely and uprightly in the knowledge of God in this present life;
13. Looking for the glad hope, the revelation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ;
14. Who gave himself for us, so that he might make us free from all wrongdoing, and make for himself a people clean in heart and on fire with good works.
15. On all these points give teaching and help, and make clear what is right with all authority. Let all men give you honour.