Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Ezekiel 37 / Basic English

1. The hand of the Lord had been on me, and he took me out in the spirit of the Lord and put me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones;
2. And he made me go past them round about: and I saw that there was a very great number of them on the face of the wide valley, and they were very dry.
3. And he said to me, Son of man, is it possible for these bones to come to life? And I made answer, and said, It is for you to say, O Lord.
4. And again he said to me, Be a prophet to these bones, and say to them, O you dry bones, give ear to the word of the Lord.
5. This is what the Lord has said to these bones: See, I will make breath come into you so that you may come to life;
6. And I will put muscles on you and make flesh come on you, and put skin over you, and breath into you, so that you may have life; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.
7. So I gave the word as I was ordered: and at my words there was a shaking of the earth, and the bones came together, bone to bone.
8. And looking I saw that there were muscles on them and flesh came up, and they were covered with skin: but there was no breath in them.
9. And he said to me, Be a prophet to the wind, be a prophet, son of man, and say to the wind, The Lord has said: Come from the four winds, O wind, breathing on these dead so that they may come to life.
10. And I gave the word at his orders, and breath came into them, and they came to life and got up on their feet, a very great army.
11. Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are all the children of Israel: and see, they are saying, Our bones have become dry our hope is gone, we are cut off completely.
12. For this cause be a prophet to them, and say, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am opening the resting-places of your dead, and I will make you come up out of your resting-places, O my people; and I will take you into the land of Israel.
13. And you will be certain that I am the Lord by my opening the resting-places of your dead and making you come up out of your resting-places, O my people.
14. And I will put my spirit in you, so that you may come to life, and I will give you a rest in your land: and you will be certain that I the Lord have said it and have done it, says the Lord.
15. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
16. And you, son of man, take one stick, writing on it, For Judah and for the children of Israel who are in his company: then take another stick, writing on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the children of Israel who are in his company:
17. Then, joining them one to another, make them one stick, so that they may be one in your hand.
18. And when the children of your people say to you, Will you not make clear to us what these things have to do with us?
19. Then say to them, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am taking the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel who are in his company; and I will put it on the stick of Judah and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand.
20. And the sticks with your writing on them will be in your hand before their eyes.
21. And say to them, These are the words of the Lord: See, I am taking the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will get them together on every side, and take them into their land:
22. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king over them all: and they will no longer be two nations, and will no longer be parted into two kingdoms:
23. And they will no longer make themselves unclean with their images or with their hated things or with any of their sins: but I will give them salvation from all their turning away in which they have done evil, and will make them clean; and they will be to me a people, and I will be to them a God.
24. And my servant David will be king over them; and they will all have one keeper: and they will be guided by my orders and will keep my rules and do them.
25. And they will be living in the land which I gave to Jacob, my servant, in which your fathers were living; and they will go on living there, they and their children and their children's children, for ever: and David, my servant, will be their ruler for ever.
26. And I will make an agreement of peace with them: it will be an eternal agreement with them: and I will have mercy on them and make their numbers great, and will put my holy place among them for ever.
27. And my House will be over them; and I will be to them a God, and they will be to me a people.
28. And the nations will be certain that I who make Israel holy am the Lord, when my holy place is among them for ever.

Ezekiel 38 / Basic English

1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2. Son of man, let your face be turned against Gog, of the land of Magog, the ruler of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and be a prophet against him,
3. And say, This is what the Lord has said: See, I am against you, O Gog, ruler of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal:
4. And turning you round, I will put hooks in your mouth and make you come out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them in full war-dress, a great force with breastplate and body-cover, all of them armed with swords:
5. Persia, Cush, and Put with them; all of them with body-cover and metal head-dress:
6. Gomer and all her forces; the people of Togarmah in the inmost parts of the north, with all his forces: a great number of peoples with you.
7. Be ready, make yourself ready, you and all the forces who are with you, and be ready for my orders.
8. After a long time you will get your orders: in the last years you will come into the land which has been given back from the sword, which has been got together out of a great number of peoples, on the mountains of Israel which have ever been a waste: but it has been taken out from the peoples and they will be living, all of them, without fear of danger.
9. And you will go up, you will come like a storm, you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your forces, and a great number of peoples with you.
10. This is what the Lord has said: In that day it will come about that things will come into your mind, and you will have thoughts of an evil design:
11. And you will say, I will go up to the land of small unwalled towns; I will go to those who are quiet, living, all of them, without fear of danger, without walls or locks or doors:
12. To take their property by force and go off with their goods; turning your hand against the waste places which now are peopled, and against the people who have been got together out of the nations, who have got cattle and goods for themselves, who are living in the middle of the earth.
13. Sheba, and Dedan and her traders, Tarshish with all her traders, will say to you, Have you come to take our goods? have you got your armies together to take away our property by force? to take away silver and gold, cattle and goods, to go off with great wealth?
14. For this cause, son of man, be a prophet and say to Gog, These are the words of the Lord: In that day, when my people Israel are living without fear of danger, will you not be moved against them?
15. And you will come from your place in the inmost parts of the north, you and a great number of peoples with you, all of them on horseback, a great force and a strong army:
16. And you will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land; and it will come about, in the last days, that I will make you come against my land, so that the nations may have knowledge of me when I make myself holy in you, O Gog, before their eyes.
17. This is what the Lord has said: You are he of whom I gave them word in earlier times by my servants, the prophets of Israel, who in those days went on saying, year after year, that I would make you come up against them.
18. And it will come about in that day, when Gog comes up against the land of Israel, says the Lord, that my wrath will come up, and my passion and my bitter feeling.
19. For in the fire of my wrath I have said, Truly, in that day there will be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20. So that the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven and the beasts of the field and everything moving on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth, will be shaking before me, and the mountains will be overturned and the high places will come down, and every wall will come falling down to the earth.
21. And I will send to all my mountains for a sword against him, says the Lord: every man's sword will be against his brother.
22. And I will take up my cause against him with disease and with blood; and I will send down on him and on his forces and on the peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower and great ice-drops, fire, and burning.
23. And I will make my name great and make myself holy, and I will make myself clear to a number of nations; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

Hebrews 13 / Basic English

1. Go on loving your brothers in the faith.
2. Take care to keep open house: because in this way some have had angels as their guests, without being conscious of it.
3. Keep in mind those who are in chains, as if you were chained with them, and those who are in trouble, as being yourselves in the body.
4. Let married life be honoured among all of you and not made unclean; for men untrue in married life will be judged by God.
5. Be free from the love of money and pleased with the things which you have; for he himself has said, I will be with you at all times.
6. So that we say with a good heart, The Lord is my helper; I will have no fear: what is man able to do to me?
7. Keep in mind those who were over you, and who gave you the word of God; seeing the outcome of their way of life, let your faith be like theirs.
8. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.
9. Do not be turned away by different strange teachings, because it is good for your hearts to be made strong by grace, and not by meats, which were of no profit to those who took so much trouble over them.
10. We have an altar from which those priests who are servants in the Tent may not take food.
11. For the bodies of the beasts whose blood is taken into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the circle of the tents.
12. For this reason Jesus was put to death outside the walls, so that he might make the people holy by his blood.
13. Let us then go out to him outside the circle of the tents, taking his shame on ourselves.
14. For here we have no fixed resting-place, but our search is for the one which is to come.
15. Let us then make offerings of praise to God at all times through him, that is to say, the fruit of lips giving witness to his name.
16. But go on doing good and giving to others, because God is well-pleased with such offerings.
17. Give ear to those who are rulers over you, and do as they say: for they keep watch over your souls, ready to give an account of them; let them be able to do this with joy and not with grief, because that would be of no profit to you.
18. Make prayers for us, for we are certain that our hearts are free from the sense of sin, desiring the right way of life in all things.
19. I make this request more strongly, in the hope of coming back to you more quickly.
20. Now may the God of peace, who made that great keeper of his flock, even our Lord Jesus, come back from the dead through the blood of the eternal agreement,
21. Make you full of every good work and ready to do all his desires, working in us whatever is pleasing in his eyes through Jesus Christ; and may the glory be given to him for ever and ever. So be it.
22. But, brothers, take kindly the words which I have said for your profit; for I have not sent you a long letter.
23. Our brother Timothy has been let out of prison; and if he comes here in a short time, he and I will come to you together.
24. Give words of love from me to those who are rulers over you, and to all the saints. Those who are in Italy send you their love.
25. May grace be with you all.