Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Exodus 10 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh: for I have made his heart and the hearts of his servants hard, so that I may let my signs be seen among them:
2. And so that you may be able to give to your son and to your son's son the story of my wonders in Egypt, and the signs which I have done among them; so that you may see that I am the Lord.
3. Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you be lifted up in your pride before me? let my people go so that they may give me worship.
4. For if you will not let my people go, tomorrow I will send locusts into your land:
5. And the face of the earth will be covered with them, so that you will not be able to see the earth: and they will be the destruction of everything which up to now has not been damaged, everything which was not crushed by the ice-storm, and every tree still living in your fields.
6. And your houses will be full of them, and the houses of your servants and of all the Egyptians; it will be worse than anything your fathers have seen or their fathers, from the day when they were living on the earth till this day. And so he went out from Pharaoh.
7. And Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long is this man to be the cause of evil to us? let the men go so that they may give worship to the Lord their God: are you not awake to Egypt's danger?
8. Then Moses and Aaron came in again before Pharaoh: and he said to them, Go and give worship to the Lord your God: but which of you are going?
9. And Moses said, We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds; for we are to keep a feast to the Lord.
10. And he said to them, May the Lord be with you, if I will let you and your little ones go! take care, for your purpose clearly is evil.
11. Not so; but let your males go and give worship to the Lord, as your desire is. This he said, driving them out from before him.
12. And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out over the land of Egypt so that the locusts may come up on the land for the destruction of every green plant in the land, even everything untouched by the ice-storm.
13. And Moses' rod was stretched out over the land of Egypt, and the Lord sent an east wind over the land all that day and all the night; and in the morning the locusts came up with the east wind.
14. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, resting on every part of the land, in very great numbers; such an army of locusts had never been seen before, and never will be again.
15. For all the face of the earth was covered with them, so that the land was black; and every green plant and all the fruit of the trees which was untouched by the ice-storm they took for food: not one green thing, no plant or tree, was to be seen in all the land of Egypt.
16. Then Pharaoh quickly sent for Moses and Aaron, and said, I have done evil against the Lord your God and against you.
17. Let me now have forgiveness for my sin this time only, and make prayer to the Lord your God that he will take away from me this death only.
18. So he went out from Pharaoh and made prayer to the Lord.
19. And the Lord sent a very strong west wind, which took up the locusts, driving them into the Red Sea; not one locust was to be seen in any part of Egypt.
20. But the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
21. And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out to heaven, and all the land of Egypt will be dark, so that men will be feeling their way about in the dark.
22. And when Moses' hand was stretched out, dark night came over all the land of Egypt for three days;
23. They were not able to see one another, and no one got up from his place for three days: but where the children of Israel were living it was light.
24. Then Pharaoh sent for Moses, and said, Go and give worship to the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept here: your little ones may go with you.
25. But Moses said, You will have to let us take burned offerings to put before the Lord our God.
26. So our cattle will have to go with us, not one may be kept back; for they are needed for the worship of the Lord our God; we have no knowledge what offering we have to give till we come to the place.
27. But the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not let them go.
28. And Pharaoh said to him, Go away from me, take care that you come not again before me; for the day when you see my face again will be your last.
29. And Moses said, You say truly; I will not see your face again.

Exodus 11 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses, I will send one more punishment on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go; and when he does let you go, he will not keep one of you back, but will send you out by force.
2. So go now and give orders to the people that every man and every woman is to get from his or her neighbour ornaments of silver and of gold.
3. And the Lord gave the people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians. For the man Moses was highly honoured in the land of Egypt, by Pharaoh's servants and the people.
4. And Moses said, This is what the Lord says: About the middle of the night I will go out through Egypt:
5. And death will come to every mother's first male child in all the land of Egypt, from the child of Pharaoh on his seat of power, to the child of the servant-girl crushing the grain; and the first births of all the cattle.
6. And there will be a great cry through all the land of Egypt, such as never has been or will be again.
7. But against the children of Israel, man or beast, not so much as the tongue of a dog will be moved: so that you may see how the Lord makes a division between Israel and the Egyptians.
8. And all these your servants will come to me, going down on their faces before me and saying, Go out, and all your people with you: and after that I will go out. And he went away from Pharaoh burning with wrath.
9. And the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not give ear to you, so that my wonders may be increased in the land of Egypt.
10. All these wonders Moses and Aaron did before Pharaoh: but the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

Exodus 12 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
2. Let this month be to you the first of months, the first month of the year.
3. Say to all the children of Israel when they are come together, In the tenth day of this month every man is to take a lamb, by the number of their fathers' families, a lamb for every family:
4. And if the lamb is more than enough for the family, let that family and its nearest neighbour have a lamb between them, taking into account the number of persons and how much food is needed for every man.
5. Let your lamb be without a mark, a male in its first year: you may take it from among the sheep or the goats:
6. Keep it till the fourteenth day of the same month, when everyone who is of the children of Israel is to put it to death between sundown and dark.
7. Then take some of the blood and put it on the two sides of the door and over the door of the house where the meal is to be taken.
8. And let your food that night be the flesh of the lamb, cooked with fire in the oven, together with unleavened bread and bitter-tasting plants.
9. Do not take it uncooked or cooked with boiling water, but let it be cooked in the oven; its head with its legs and its inside parts.
10. Do not keep any of it till the morning; anything which is not used is to be burned with fire.
11. And take your meal dressed as if for a journey, with your shoes on your feet and your sticks in your hands: take it quickly: it is the Lord's Passover.
12. For on that night I will go through the land of Egypt, sending death on every first male child, of man and of beast, and judging all the gods of Egypt: I am the Lord.
13. And the blood will be a sign on the houses where you are: when I see the blood I will go over you, and no evil will come on you for your destruction, when my hand is on the land of Egypt.
14. And this day is to be kept in your memories: you are to keep it as a feast to the Lord through all your generations, as an order for ever.
15. For seven days let your food be unleavened bread; from the first day no leaven is to be seen in your houses: whoever takes bread with leaven in it, from the first till the seventh day, will be cut off from Israel.
16. And on the first day there is to be a holy meeting and on the seventh day a holy meeting; no sort of work may be done on those days but only to make ready what is necessary for everyone's food.
17. So keep the feast of unleavened bread; for on this very day I have taken your armies out of the land of Egypt: this day, then, is to be kept through all your generations by an order for ever.
18. In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day, let your food be unleavened bread till the evening of the twenty-first day of the month.
19. For seven days no leaven is to be seen in your houses: for whoever takes bread which is leavened will be cut off from the people of Israel, if he is from another country or if he is an Israelite by birth.
20. Take nothing which has leaven in it; wherever you are living let your food be unleavened cakes.
21. Then Moses sent for the chiefs of Israel, and said to them, See that lambs are marked out for yourselves and your families, and let the Passover lamb be put to death.
22. And take some hyssop and put it in the blood in the basin, touching the two sides and the top of the doorway with the blood from the basin; and let not one of you go out of his house till the morning.
23. For the Lord will go through the land, sending death on the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the two sides and the top of the door, the Lord will go over your door and will not let death come in for your destruction.
24. And you are to keep this as an order to you and to your sons for ever.
25. And when you come into the land which the Lord will make yours, as he gave his word, you are to keep this act of worship.
26. And when your children say to you, What is the reason of this act of worship?
27. Then you will say, This is the offering of the Lord's Passover; for he went over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he sent death on the Egyptians, and kept our families safe. And the people gave worship with bent heads.
28. And the children of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had given orders to Moses and Aaron, so they did.
29. And in the middle of the night the Lord sent death on every first male child in the land of Egypt, from the child of Pharaoh on his seat of power to the child of the prisoner in the prison; and the first births of all the cattle.
30. Then Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and a great cry went up from Egypt; for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
31. And he sent for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Get up and go out from among my people, you and the children of Israel; go and give worship to the Lord as you have said.
32. And take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone; and give me your blessing.
33. And the Egyptians were forcing the people on, to get them out of the land quickly; for they said, We are all dead men.
34. And the people took their bread-paste before it was leavened, putting their basins in their clothing on their backs.
35. And the children of Israel had done as Moses had said; and they got from the Egyptians ornaments of silver and of gold, and clothing:
36. And the Lord had given the people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians so that they gave them whatever was requested. So they took away all their goods from the Egyptians.
37. And the children of Israel made the journey from Rameses to Succoth; there were about six hundred thousand men on foot, as well as children.
38. And a mixed band of people went with them; and flocks and herds in great numbers.
39. And they made unleavened cakes from the paste which they had taken out of Egypt; it was not leavened, for they had been sent out of Egypt so quickly, that they had no time to make any food ready.
40. Now the children of Israel had been living in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years.
41. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the armies of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt.
42. It is a watch-night before the Lord who took them out of the land of Egypt: this same night is a watch-night to the Lord for all the children of Israel, through all their generations.
43. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the law of the Passover: no man who is not an Israelite is to take of it:
44. But every man's servant, whom he has got for money, may take of it, when he has had circumcision.
45. A man from a strange country living among you, and a servant working for payment, may not take part in it.
46. It is to be taken in one house; not a bit of the flesh is to be taken out of the house, and no bone of it may be broken.
47. All Israel is to keep the feast.
48. And if a man from another country is living with you, and has a desire to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all the males of his family undergo circumcision, and then let him come near and keep it; for he will then be as one of your people; but no one without circumcision may keep it.
49. The law is the same for him who is an Israelite by birth and for the man from a strange country who is living with you.
50. So the children of Israel did as the Lord gave orders to Moses and Aaron.
51. And on that very day the Lord took the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

Psalms 11 / Basic English

1. <For the chief music-maker. Of David.> In the Lord put I my faith; how will you say to my soul, Go in flight like a bird to the mountain?
2. See, the bows of the evil-doers are bent, they make ready their arrows on the cord, so that they may send them secretly against the upright in heart.
3. If the bases are broken down, what is the upright man to do?
4. The Lord is in his holy Temple, the Lord's seat is in heaven; his eyes are watching and testing the children of men.
5. The Lord puts the upright and the sinner to the test, but he has hate in his soul for the lover of violent acts.
6. On the evil-doer he will send down fire and flames, and a burning wind; with these will their cup be full.
7. For the Lord is upright; he is a lover of righteousness: the upright will see his face.

Psalms 12 / Basic English

1. <For the chief music-maker on the Sheminith. A Psalm. Of David.> Send help, Lord, for mercy has come to an end; there is no more faith among the children of men.
2. Everyone says false words to his neighbour: their tongues are smooth in their talk, and their hearts are full of deceit.
3. The smooth lips and the tongue of pride will be cut off by the Lord.
4. They have said, With our tongues will we overcome; our lips are ours: who is lord over us?
5. Because of the crushing of the poor and the weeping of those in need, now will I come to his help, says the Lord; I will give him the salvation which he is desiring.
6. The words of the Lord are true words: like silver tested by fire and burned clean seven times.
7. You will keep them, O Lord, you will keep them safe from this generation for ever.
8. The sinners are walking on every side, and evil is honoured among the children of men.

Psalms 13 / Basic English

1. <To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.> Will you for ever put me out of your memory, O Lord? will your face for ever be turned away from me?
2. How long is my soul to be in doubt, with sorrow in my heart all the day? how long will he who is against me be given power over me?
3. Let my voice come before you, and give me an answer, O Lord my God; let your light be shining on me, so that the sleep of death may not overtake me;
4. And he who is against me may not say, I have overcome him; and those who are troubling me may not be glad when I am moved.
5. But I have had faith in your mercy; my heart will be glad in your salvation.
6. I will make a song to the Lord, because he has given me my reward.