Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Ezekiel 32 / Basic English

1. And it came about in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2. Son of man, make a song of grief for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him, Young lion of the nations, destruction has come on you; and you were like a sea-beast in the seas, sending out bursts of water, troubling the waters with your feet, making their streams dirty.
3. This is what the Lord has said: My net will be stretched out over you, and I will take you up in my fishing-net.
4. And I will let you be stretched on the land; I will send you out violently into the open field; I will let all the birds of heaven come to rest on you and will make the beasts of all the earth full of you.
5. And I will put your flesh on the mountains, and make the valleys full of your blood.
6. And the land will be watered with your blood, and the waterways will be full of you.
7. And when I put out your life, the heaven will be covered and its stars made dark; I will let the sun be covered with a cloud and the moon will not give her light.
8. All the bright lights of heaven I will make dark over you, and put dark night on your land, says the Lord.
9. And the hearts of numbers of peoples will be troubled, when I send your prisoners among the nations, into a country which is strange to you.
10. And I will make a number of peoples overcome with wonder at you, and their kings will be full of fear because of you, when my sword is waved before them: they will be shaking every minute, every man fearing for his life, in the day of your fall.
11. For this is what the Lord has said: The sword of the king of Babylon will come on you.
12. I will let the swords of the strong be the cause of the fall of your people; all of them men to be feared among the nations: and they will make waste the pride of Egypt, and all its people will come to destruction.
13. And I will put an end to all her beasts which are by the great waters, and they will never again be troubled by the foot of man or by the feet of beasts.
14. Then I will make their waters clear and their rivers will be flowing like oil, says the Lord.
15. When I make Egypt an unpeopled waste, cutting off from the land all the things in it; when I send punishment on all those living in it, then it will be clear to them that I am the Lord.
16. It is a song of grief, and people will give voice to it, the daughters of the nations will give voice to it, even for Egypt and all her people, says the Lord.
17. And in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
18. Son of man, let your voice be loud in sorrow for the people of Egypt and send them down, even you and the daughters of the nations; I will send them down into the lowest parts of the earth, with those who go down into the underworld.
19. Are you more beautiful than any? go down, and take your rest among those without circumcision,
20. Among those who have been put to the sword: they will give a resting-place with them to all their people.
21. The strong among the great ones will say to him from the underworld, Are you more beautiful than any? go down, you and your helpers, and take your rest among those without circumcision, and those who have been put to the sword.
22. There is Asshur and all her army, round about her last resting-place: all of them put to death by the sword:
23. Whose resting-places are in the inmost parts of the underworld, who were a cause of fear in the land of the living.
24. There is Elam and all her people, round about her last resting-place: all of them put to death by the sword, who have gone down without circumcision into the lowest parts of the earth, who were a cause of fear in the land of the living, and are put to shame with those who go down to the underworld:
25. They have made a bed for her among the dead, and all her people are round about her resting-place: all of them without circumcision, put to death with the sword; for they were a cause of fear in the land of the living, and are put to shame with those who go down to the underworld: they have been given a place among those who have been put to the sword.
26. There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her people, round about her last resting-place: all of them without circumcision, put to death by the sword; for they were a cause of fear in the land of the living.
27. And they have been put to rest with the fighting men who came to their end in days long past, who went down to the underworld with their instruments of war, placing their swords under their heads, and their body-covers are over their bones; for their strength was a cause of fear in the land of the living.
28. But you will have your bed among those without circumcision, and will be put to rest with those who have been put to death with the sword.
29. There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who have been given a resting-place with those who were put to the sword: they will be resting among those without circumcision, even with those who go down to the underworld.
30. There are the chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, who have gone down with those who have been put to the sword: they are shamed on account of all the fear caused by their strength; they are resting there without circumcision, among those who have been put to the sword, and are put to shame with those who go down to the underworld.
31. Pharaoh will see them and be comforted on account of all his people: even Pharaoh and all his army, put to death by the sword, says the Lord.
32. For he put his fear in the land of the living: and he will be put to rest among those without circumcision, with those who have been put to death with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his people, says the Lord.

Ezekiel 33 / Basic English

1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2. Son of man, give a word to the children of your people, and say to them, When I make the sword come on a land, if the people of the land take a man from among their number and make him their watchman:
3. If, when he sees the sword coming on the land, by sounding the horn he gives the people news of their danger;
4. Then anyone who, hearing the sound of the horn, does not take note of it, will himself be responsible for his death, if the sword comes and takes him away.
5. On hearing the sound of the horn, he did not take note; his blood will be on him; for if he had taken note his life would have been safe.
6. But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not give a note on the horn, and the people have no word of the danger, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them; he will be taken away in his sin, but I will make the watchman responsible for his blood.
7. So you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the children of Israel; and you are to give ear to the word of my mouth and give them news from me of their danger.
8. When I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly overtake you; and you say nothing to make clear to the evil-doer the danger of his way; death will overtake that evil man in his evil-doing, but I will make you responsible for his blood.
9. But if you make clear to the evil-doer the danger of his way for the purpose of turning him from it, and he is not turned from his way, death will overtake him in his evil-doing, but your life will be safe.
10. And you, son of man, say to the children of Israel, You say, Our wrongdoing and our sins are on us and we are wasting away in them; how then may we have life?
11. Say to them, By my life, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the evil-doer; it is more pleasing to me if he is turned from his way and has life: be turned, be turned from your evil ways; why are you looking for death, O children of Israel?
12. And you, son of man, say to the children of your people, The righteousness of the upright man will not make him safe in the day when he does wrong; and the evil-doing of the evil man will not be the cause of his fall in the day when he is turned from his evil-doing; and the upright man will not have life because of his righteousness in the day when he does evil.
13. When I say to the upright that life will certainly be his; if he puts his faith in his righteousness and does evil, not one of his upright acts will be kept in memory; but in the evil he has done, death will overtake him.
14. And when I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly be your fate; if he is turned from his sin and does what is ordered and right;
15. If the evil-doer lets one who is in his debt have back what is his, and gives back what he had taken by force, and is guided by the rules of life, doing no evil; life will certainly be his, death will not overtake him.
16. Not one of the sins which he has done will be kept in mind against him: he has done what is ordered and right, life will certainly be his.
17. But the children of your people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: when it is they whose way is not equal.
18. When the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, death will overtake him in it.
19. And when the evil man, turning away from his evil-doing, does what is ordered and right, he will get life by it.
20. And still you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O children of Israel, I will be your judge, giving to everyone the reward of his ways.
21. Now in the twelfth year after we had been taken away prisoners, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, one who had got away in flight from Jerusalem came to me, saying, The town has been taken.
22. Now the hand of the Lord had been on me in the evening, before the man who had got away came to me; and he made my mouth open, ready for his coming to me in the morning; and my mouth was open and I was no longer without voice.
23. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
24. Son of man, those who are living in these waste places in the land of Israel say, Abraham was but one, and he had land for his heritage: but we are a great number; the land is given to us for our heritage.
25. For this cause say to them, This is what the Lord has said: You take your meat with the blood, your eyes are lifted up to your images, and you are takers of life: are you to have the land for your heritage?
26. You put your faith in your swords, you do disgusting things, everyone takes his neighbour's wife: are you to have the land for your heritage?
27. This is what you are to say to them: The Lord has said, By my life, truly, those who are in the waste places will be put to the sword, and him who is in the open field I will give to the beasts for their food, and those who are in the strong places and in holes in the rocks will come to their death by disease.
28. And I will make the land a waste and a cause of wonder, and the pride of her strength will come to an end; and the mountains of Israel will be made waste so that no one will go through.
29. Then they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a waste and a cause of wonder, because of all the disgusting things which they have done,
30. And as for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking together about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, saying to one another, Come now, give ear to the word which comes from the Lord.
31. And they come to you as my people come, and are seated before you as my people, hearing your words but doing them not: for deceit is in their mouth and their heart goes after profit for themselves.
32. And truly you are to them like a love song by one who has a very pleasing voice and is an expert player on an instrument: for they give ear to your words but do them not.
33. And when this comes about (see, it is coming), then it will be clear to them that a prophet has been among them.

Hebrews 10 / Basic English

1. For the law, being only a poor copy of the future good things, and not the true image of those things, is never able to make the people who come to the altar every year with the same offerings completely clean.
2. For if this had been possible, would there not have been an end of those offerings, because the worshippers would have been made completely clean and would have been no longer conscious of sins?
3. But year by year there is a memory of sins in those offerings.
4. Because it is not possible for the blood of oxen and goats to take away sins.
5. So that when he comes into the world, he says, You had no desire for offerings, but you made a body ready for me;
6. You had no joy in burned offerings or in offerings for sin.
7. Then I said, See, I have come to do your pleasure, O God (as it is said of me in the roll of the book).
8. After saying, You had no desire for offerings, for burned offerings or offerings for sin (which are made by the law) and you had no pleasure in them,
9. Then he said, See, I have come to do your pleasure. He took away the old order, so that he might put the new order in its place.
10. By that pleasure we have been made holy, by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for ever.
11. And every priest takes his place at the altar day by day, doing what is necessary, and making again and again the same offerings which are never able to take away sins.
12. But when Jesus had made one offering for sins for ever, he took his place at the right hand of God;
13. And has been waiting there from that time, till all who are against him are made a foot-rest for his feet.
14. Because by one offering he has made complete for ever those who are made holy.
15. And the Holy Spirit is a witness for us: for after he had said,
16. This is the agreement which I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws in their hearts, writing them in their minds; he said,
17. And I will keep no more memory of their sins and of their evil-doings.
18. Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no more offering for sin.
19. So then, my brothers, being able to go into the holy place without fear, because of the blood of Jesus,
20. By the new and living way which he made open for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21. And having a great priest over the house of God,
22. Let us go in with true hearts, in certain faith, having our hearts made free from the sense of sin and our bodies washed with clean water:
23. Let us keep the witness of our hope strong and unshaking, for he is true who has given his word:
24. And let us be moving one another at all times to love and good works;
25. Not giving up our meetings, as is the way of some, but keeping one another strong in faith; and all the more because you see the day coming near.
26. For if we do evil on purpose after we have had the knowledge of what is true, there is no more offering for sins,
27. But only a great fear of being judged, and of the fire of wrath which will be the destruction of the haters of God.
28. A man who has gone against the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the word of two or three witnesses:
29. But will not the man by whom the Son of God has been crushed under foot, and the blood of the agreement with which he was washed clean has been taken as an unholy thing, and who has had no respect for the Spirit of grace, be judged bad enough for a very much worse punishment?
30. For we have had experience of him who says, Punishment is mine, I will give reward. And again, The Lord will be judge of his people.
31. We may well go in fear of falling into the hands of the living God.
32. But give thought to the days after you had seen the light, when you went through a great war of troubles;
33. In part, in being attacked by angry words and cruel acts, before the eyes of everyone, and in part, in being united with those who were attacked in this way.
34. For you had pity on those who were in prison, and had joy in the loss of your property, in the knowledge that you still had a better property and one which you would keep for ever.
35. So do not give up your hope which will be greatly rewarded.
36. For, having done what was right in God's eyes, you have need of waiting before his word has effect for you.
37. In a very little time he who is coming will come; he will not be slow.
38. But the upright man will be living by his faith; and if he goes back, my soul will have no pleasure in him.
39. But we are not of those who go back to destruction; but of those who have faith even to the salvation of the soul.