Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Ezekiel 26 / Basic English

1. Now in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2. Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she who was the doorway of the peoples is broken; she is turned over to them; she who was full is made waste;
3. For this cause the Lord has said, See, I am against you, O Tyre, and will send up a number of nations against you as the sea sends up its waves.
4. And they will give the walls of Tyre to destruction and have its towers broken: and I will take even her dust away from her, and make her an uncovered rock
5. She will be a place for the stretching out of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have said it, says the Lord: and her goods will be given over to the nations.
6. And her daughters in the open country will be put to the sword: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.
7. For this is what the Lord has said: See, I will send up from the north Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre, with horses and war-carriages and with an army and great numbers of people.
8. He will put to the sword your daughters in the open country: he will make strong walls against you and put up an earthwork against you, arming himself for war against you.
9. He will put up his engines of war against your walls, and your towers will be broken down by his axes.
10. Because of the number of his horses you will be covered with their dust: your walls will be shaking at the noise of the horsemen and of the wheels and of the war-carriages, when he comes through your doorways, as into a town which has been broken open.
11. Your streets will be stamped down by the feet of his horses: he will put your people to the sword, and will send down the pillars of your strength to the earth.
12. They will take by force all your wealth and go off with the goods with which you do trade: they will have your walls broken down and all the houses of your desire given up to destruction: they will put your stones and your wood and your dust deep in the water.
13. I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your instruments of music will be gone for ever.
14. I will make you an uncovered rock: you will be a place for the stretching out of nets; there will be no building you up again: for I the Lord have said it, says the Lord.
15. This is what the Lord has said to Tyre: Will not the sea-lands be shaking at the sound of your fall, when the wounded give cries of pain, when men are put to the sword in you?
16. Then all the rulers of the sea will come down from their high seats, and put away their robes and take off their clothing of needlework: they will put on the clothing of grief, they will take their seats on the earth, shaking with fear every minute and overcome with wonder at you.
17. And they will send up a song of grief for you, and say to you, What destruction has come on you, how are you cut off from the sea, the noted town, which was strong in the sea, she and her people, causing the fear of them to come on all the dry land!
18. Now the sea-lands will be shaking in the day of your fall; and all the ships on the sea will be overcome with fear at your going.
19. For this is what the Lord has said: I will make you a waste town, like the towns which are unpeopled; when I make the deep come upon you, covering you with great waters.
20. Then I will make you go down with those who go down into the underworld, to the people of the past, causing your living-place to be in the deepest parts of the earth, in places long unpeopled, with those who go down into the deep, so that there will be no one living in you; and you will have no glory in the land of the living.
21. I will make you a thing of fear, and you will come to an end: even if you are looked for, you will not be seen again for ever, says the Lord.

Ezekiel 27 / Basic English

1. The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,
2. And you, son of man, make a song of grief for Tyre;
3. And say to Tyre, O you who are seated at the doorway of the sea, trading for the peoples with the great sea-lands, these are the words of the Lord: You, O Tyre, have said, I am a ship completely beautiful.
4. Your builders have made your outlines in the heart of the seas, they have made you completely beautiful.
5. They have made all your boards of fir-trees from Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make the supports for your sails.
6. Of oak-trees from Bashan they have made your driving blades; they have made your floors of ivory and boxwood from the sea-lands of Kittim.
7. The best linen with needlework from Egypt was your sail, stretched out to be a flag for you; blue and purple from the sea-lands of Elishah gave you shade.
8. The people of Zidon and Arvad were your boatmen; the wise men of Zemer were in you; they were guiding your ships;
9. The responsible men of Gebal and its wise men were in you, making your boards watertight: all the ships of the sea with their seamen were in you trading in your goods.
10. Cush and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war, hanging up their body-covers and head-dresses of war in you: they gave you your glory.
11. The men of Arvad in your army were on your walls, and were watchmen in your towers, hanging up their arms on your walls round about; they made you completely beautiful.
12. Tarshish did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth; they gave silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods.
13. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders; they gave living men and brass vessels for your goods.
14. The people of Togarmah gave horses and war-horses and transport beasts for your goods.
15. The men of Rodan were your traders: a great number of sea-lands did business with you: they gave you horns of ivory and ebony as an offering.
16. Edom did business with you because of the great number of things which you made; they gave emeralds, purple, and needlework, and the best linen and coral and rubies for your goods.
17. Judah and the land of Israel were your traders; they gave grain of Minnith and sweet cakes and honey and oil and perfume for your goods.
18. Damascus did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth, with wine of Helbon and white wool.
19. ... for your goods: they gave polished iron and spices for your goods.
20. Dedan did trade with you in cloths for the backs of horses.
21. Arabia and all the rulers of Kedar did business with you; in lambs and sheep and goats, in these they did business with you.
22. The traders of Sheba and Raamah did trade with you; they gave the best of all sorts of spices and all sorts of stones of great price and gold for your goods.
23. Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traders of Asshur and all the Medes:
24. These were your traders in beautiful robes, in rolls of blue and needlework, and in chests of coloured cloth, corded with cords and made of cedar-wood, in them they did trade with you.
25. Tarshish ships did business for you in your goods: and you were made full, and great was your glory in the heart of the seas.
26. Your boatmen have taken you into great waters: you have been broken by the east wind in the heart of the seas.
27. Your wealth and your goods, the things in which you do trade, your seamen and those guiding your ships, those who make your boards watertight, and those who do business with your goods, and all your men of war who are in you, with all who have come together in you, will go down into the heart of the seas in the day of your downfall.
28. At the sound of the cry of your ships' guides, the boards of the ship will be shaking.
29. And all the boatmen, the seamen and those who are expert at guiding a ship through the sea, will come down from their ships and take their places on the land;
30. And their voices will be sounding over you, and crying bitterly they will put dust on their heads, rolling themselves in the dust:
31. And they will have the hair of their heads cut off because of you, and will put haircloth on their bodies, weeping for you with bitter grief in their souls, even with bitter sorrow.
32. And in their weeping they will make a song of grief for you, sorrowing over you and saying, Who is like Tyre, who has come to an end in the deep sea?
33. When your goods went out over the seas, you made numbers of peoples full; the wealth of the kings of the earth was increased with your great wealth and all your goods.
34. Now that you are broken by the seas in the deep waters, your goods and all your people will go down with you.
35. All the people of the sea-lands are overcome with wonder at you, and their kings are full of fear, their faces are troubled.
36. Those who do business among the peoples make sounds of surprise at you; you have become a thing of fear, you have come to an end for ever.

Hebrews 7 / Basic English

1. For this Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who gave Abraham his blessing, meeting him when he came back after putting the kings to death,
2. And to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of everything which he had, being first named King of righteousness, and then in addition, King of Salem, that is to say, King of peace;
3. Being without father or mother, or family, having no birth or end to his life, being made like the Son of God, is a priest for ever.
4. Now see how great this man was, to whom our father Abraham gave a tenth part of what he had got in the fight.
5. And it is true that by the law, those of the sons of Levi who have the position of priests may take a tenth part of the people's goods; that is to say, they take it from their brothers though these are the sons of Abraham.
6. But this man, who was not of their family, took the tenth from Abraham, and gave a blessing to him to whom God had given his undertaking.
7. But there is no doubt that the less gets his blessing from the greater.
8. Now at the present time, men over whom death has power take the tenth; but then it was taken by one of whom it is witnessed that he is living.
9. And we may say that in Abraham, even Levi, who has a right to take the tenth part, gave it;
10. Because he was still in his father's body when Melchizedek came to him.
11. Now if it was possible for things to be made complete through the priests of the house of Levi (for the law was given to the people in connection with them), what need was there for another priest who was of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron?
12. Because if the priests are changed, it is necessary to make a change in the law.
13. For he of whom these things are said comes of another tribe, of which no man has ever made offerings at the altar.
14. Because it is clear that our Lord comes out of Judah, and Moses said nothing about priests from that tribe.
15. And this is even more clear if a second priest has come up who is like Melchizedek,
16. That is to say, not made by a law based on the flesh, but by the power of a life without end:
17. For it has been witnessed of him, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
18. So the law which went before is put on one side, because it was feeble and without profit.
19. (Because the law made nothing complete), and in its place there is a better hope, through which we come near to God.
20. And as this is not without the taking of an oath
21. (For those were made priests without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by him who says of him, The Lord gave his oath, which he will not take back, that you are a priest for ever);
22. By so much is it a better agreement which we have through Jesus.
23. And it is true that there have been a great number of those priests, because death does not let them go on for ever;
24. But this priest, because his life goes on for ever, is unchanging.
25. So that he is fully able to be the saviour of all who come to God through him, because he is ever living to make prayer to God for them.
26. It was right for us to have such a high priest, one who is holy and without evil, doing no wrong, having no part with sinners, and made higher than the heavens:
27. Who has no need to make offerings for sins every day, like those high priests, first for himself, and then for the people; because he did this once and for ever when he made an offering of himself.
28. The law makes high priests of men who are feeble; but the word of the oath, which was made after the law, gives that position to a Son, in whom all good is for ever complete.