Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Ezekiel 34 / Basic English

1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2. Son of man, be a prophet against the keepers of the flock of Israel, and say to them, O keepers of the sheep! this is the word of the Lord: A curse is on the keepers of the flock of Israel who take the food for themselves! is it not right for the keepers to give the food to the sheep?
3. You take the milk and are clothed with the wool, you put the fat beasts to death, but you give the sheep no food.
4. You have not made the diseased ones strong or made well that which was ill; you have not put bands on the broken or got back that which had been sent away or made search for the wandering ones; and the strong you have been ruling cruelly.
5. And they were wandering in every direction because there was no keeper: and they became food for all the beasts of the field.
6. And my sheep went out of the way, wandering through all the mountains and on every high hill: my sheep went here and there over all the face of the earth; and no one was troubled about them or went in search of them.
7. For this cause, O keepers of the flock, give ear to the word of the Lord:
8. By my life, says the Lord, truly, because my sheep have been taken away, and my sheep became food for all the beasts of the field, because there was no keeper, and my keepers did not go in search of the sheep, but the keepers took food for themselves and gave my sheep no food;
9. For this reason, O you keepers of the flock, give ear to the word of the Lord;
10. This is what the Lord has said: See I am against the keepers of the flock, and I will make search and see what they have done with my sheep, and will let them be keepers of my sheep no longer; and the keepers will no longer get food for themselves; I will take my sheep out of their mouths so that they may not be food for them.
11. For this is what the Lord has said: Truly, I, even I, will go searching and looking for my sheep.
12. As the keeper goes looking for his flock when he is among his wandering sheep, so I will go looking for my sheep, and will get them safely out of all the places where they have been sent wandering in the day of clouds and black night.
13. And I will take them out from among the peoples, and get them together from the countries, and will take them into their land; and I will give them food on the mountains of Israel by the water-streams and wherever men are living in the country.
14. I will give them good grass-land for their food, and their safe place will be the mountains of the high place of Israel: there they will take their rest in a good place, and on fat grass-land they will take their food on the mountains of Israel.
15. I myself will give food to my flock, and I will give them rest, says the Lord.
16. I will go in search of that which had gone wandering from the way, and will get back that which had been sent in flight, and will put bands on that which was broken, and give strength to that which was ill: but the fat and the strong I will give up to destruction; I will give them for their food the punishment which is theirs by right.
17. And as for you, O my flock, says the Lord, truly, I will be judge between sheep and sheep, the he-sheep and the he-goats.
18. Does it seem a small thing to you to have taken your food on good grass-land while the rest of your grass-land is stamped down under your feet? and that after drinking from clear waters you make the rest of the waters dirty with your feet?
19. And as for my sheep, their food is the grass which has been stamped on by your feet, and their drink the water which has been made dirty by your feet.
20. For this reason the Lord has said to them, Truly, I, even I, will be judge between the fat sheep and the thin sheep.
21. Because you have been pushing with side and leg, pushing the diseased with your horns till they were sent away in every direction;
22. I will make my flock safe, and they will no longer be taken away, and I will be judge between sheep and sheep.
23. And I will put over them one keeper, and he will give them food, even my servant David; he will give them food and be their keeper.
24. And I the Lord will be their God and my servant David their ruler; I the Lord have said it.
25. And I will make with them an agreement of peace, and will put an end to evil beasts through all the land: and they will be living safely in the waste land, sleeping in the woods.
26. And I will give the rain at the right time, and I will make the shower come down at the right time; there will be showers of blessing.
27. And the tree of the field will give its fruit and the earth will give its increase, and they will be safe in their land; and they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I have had their yoke broken and have given them salvation from the hands of those who made them servants.
28. And their goods will no longer be taken by the nations, and they will not again be food for the beasts of the earth; but they will be living safely and no one will be a cause of fear to them.
29. And I will give them planting-places of peace, and they will no longer be wasted from need of food or put to shame by the nations.
30. And they will be certain that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, the children of Israel, are my people, says the Lord.
31. And you are my sheep, the sheep of my grass-lands, and I am your God, says the Lord.

Ezekiel 35 / Basic English

1. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2. Son of man, let your face be turned to Mount Seir, and be a prophet against it,
3. And say to it, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am against you, O Mount Seir, and my hand will be stretched out against you, and I will make you a waste and a cause for wonder.
4. I will make your towns unpeopled and you will be a waste; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.
5. Because yours has been a hate without end, and you have given up the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their trouble, in the time of the punishment of the end:
6. For this cause, by my life, says the Lord, because you have been sinning through blood, blood will come after you.
7. And I will make Mount Seir a cause for wonder and a waste, cutting off from it all comings and goings.
8. I will make his mountains full of those who have been put to death; in your valleys and in all your water-streams men will be falling by the sword.
9. I will make you waste for ever, and your towns will be unpeopled: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.
10. Because you have said, The two nations and the two countries are to be mine, and we will take them for our heritage; though the Lord was there:
11. For this cause, by my life, says the Lord, I will do to you as you have done in your wrath and in your envy, which you have made clear in your hate for them; and I will make clear to you who I am when you are judged by me.
12. And you will see that I the Lord have had knowledge of all the bitter things which you have said against the mountains of Israel, saying, They have been made waste, they are given to us to take for our heritage.
13. And you have made yourselves great against me with your mouths, increasing your words against me; and it has come to my ears.
14. This is what the Lord has said: Because you were glad over my land when it was a waste, so will I do to you:
15. You will become a waste, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

Hebrews 11 / Basic English

1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the sign that the things not seen are true.
2. For by it our fathers had God's approval.
3. By faith it is clear to us that the order of events was fixed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made from things which only seem to be.
4. By faith Abel made a better offering to God than Cain, and he had witness through it of his righteousness, God giving his approval of his offering: and his voice still comes to us through it though he is dead.
5. By faith Enoch was taken up to heaven so that he did not see death; he was seen no longer, for God took him away: for before he was taken, witness had been given that he was well-pleasing to God:
6. And without faith it is not possible to be well-pleasing to him, for it is necessary for anyone who comes to God to have the belief that God is, and that he is a rewarder of all those who make a serious search for him.
7. By faith Noah, being moved by the fear of God, made ready an ark for the salvation of his family, because God had given him news of things which were not seen at the time; and through it the world was judged by him, and he got for his heritage the righteousness which is by faith.
8. By faith Abraham did as God said when he was ordered to go out into a place which was to be given to him as a heritage, and went out without knowledge of where he was going.
9. By faith he was a wanderer in the land of the agreement, as in a strange land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who had a part with him in the same heritage:
10. For he was looking for the strong town, whose builder and maker is God.
11. And by faith Sarah herself had power to give birth, when she was very old, because she had faith in him who gave his word;
12. So that from one man, who was near to death, came children in number as the stars in heaven, or as the sand by the seaside, which may not be numbered.
13. All these came to their end in faith, not having had the heritage; but having seen it with delight far away, they gave witness that they were wanderers and not of the earth.
14. For those who say such things make it clear that they are searching for a country for themselves.
15. And truly if they had kept in mind the country from which they went out, they would have had chances of turning back.
16. But now their desire is for a better country, that is to say, for one in heaven; and so it is no shame to God to be named their God; for he has made ready a town for them.
17. By faith Abraham made an offering of Isaac, when he was tested: and he with whom the agreement had been made gave up as an offering the only son of his body,
18. Of whom it had been said, From Isaac will your seed take their name:
19. Judging that God was able to give life even to the dead; and because of this he did get him back as if from death.
20. By faith Isaac, blessing Jacob and Esau, gave news of things to come.
21. By faith Jacob gave a blessing to the two sons of Joseph, when he was near to death; and gave God worship, supported by his stick.
22. By faith Joseph, when his end was near, said that the children of Israel would go out of Egypt; and gave orders about his bones.
23. By faith Moses was kept secretly by his father and mother for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a fair child; and they had no fear of the king's orders.
24. By faith Moses, when he became a man, had no desire to be named the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
25. Feeling that it was better to undergo pain with the people of God, than for a short time to have a taste of the pleasures of sin;
26. Judging a part in the shame of Christ to be better than all the wealth of Egypt; for he was looking forward to his reward.
27. By faith he went out of Egypt, not being turned from his purpose by fear of the wrath of the king; for he kept on his way, as seeing him who is unseen.
28. By faith he kept the Passover, and put the sign of the blood on the houses, so that the angel of destruction might not put their oldest sons to death.
29. By faith they went through the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, though the Egyptians were overcome by the water when they made an attempt to do the same.
30. By faith the walls of Jericho came down, after they had been circled for seven days.
31. By faith Rahab, the loose woman, was not put to death with those who had gone against God's orders, because she had taken into her house in peace those sent to see the land.
32. What more am I to say? For there would not be time to give the stories of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets:
33. Who through faith overcame kingdoms, did righteousness, got their reward, kept the mouths of lions shut,
34. Put out the power of fire, got safely away from the edge of the sword, were made strong when they had been feeble, became full of power in war, and put to flight the armies of the nations.
35. Women had their dead given back to them living; others let themselves be cruelly attacked, having no desire to go free, so that they might have a better life to come;
36. And others were tested by being laughed at or by blows, and even with chains and prisons:
37. They were stoned, they were cut up with knives, they were tested, they were put to death with the sword, they went about in sheepskins and in goatskins; being poor and in pain and cruelly attacked,
38. Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough.
39. And not one of these got the good things of the agreement, though they all had a good record through faith,
40. Because God had kept some better thing for us, so that it was not possible for them to become complete without us.