Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Hosea 3 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to me, Give your love again to a woman who has a lover and is false to her husband, even as the Lord has love for the children of Israel, though they are turned to other gods and are lovers of grape-cakes.
2. So I got her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley;
3. And I said to her, You are to be mine for a long space of time; you are not to be false to me, and no other man is to have you for his wife; and so will I be to you.
4. For the children of Israel will for a long time be without king and without ruler, without offerings and without pillars, and without ephod or images.
5. And after that, the children of Israel will come back and go in search of the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come in fear to the Lord and to his mercies in the days to come.

Hosea 4 / Basic English

1. Give ear to the word of the Lord, O children of Israel; for the Lord has a cause against the people of this land, because there is no good faith in it, and no mercy and no knowledge of God in the land.
2. There is cursing and broken faith, violent death and attacks on property, men are untrue in married life, houses are broken into, and there is blood touching blood.
3. Because of this the land will be dry, and everyone living in it will be wasted away, with the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven; even the fishes of the sea will be taken away.
4. Let no man go to law or make protests, for your people are like those who go to law with a priest.
5. You will not be able to keep on your feet by day, and by night the prophet will be falling down with you, and I will give your mother to destruction.
6. Destruction has overtaken my people because they have no knowledge; because you have given up knowledge, I will give you up, so that you will be no priest to me, because you have not kept in mind the law of your God, I will not keep your children in my memory.
7. Even while they were increasing in number they were sinning against me; I will let their glory be changed into shame.
8. The sin of my people is like food to them; and their desire is for their wrongdoing.
9. And the priest will be like the people; I will give them punishment for their evil ways, and the reward of their acts.
10. They will have food, but they will not be full; they will be false to me, but they will not be increased, because they no longer give thought to the Lord.
11. Loose ways and new wine take away wisdom.
12. My people get knowledge from their tree, and their rod gives them news; for a false spirit is the cause of their wandering, and they have been false to their God.
13. They make offerings on the tops of mountains, burning perfumes in high places, under trees of every sort, because their shade is good: and so your daughters are given up to loose ways and your brides are false to their husbands.
14. I will not give punishment to your daughters or your brides for their evil behaviour; for they make themselves separate with loose women, and make offerings with those who are used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: the people who have no wisdom will be sent away.
15. Do not you, O Israel, come into error; do not you, O Judah, come to Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven, or take an oath, By the living Lord.
16. For Israel is uncontrolled, like a cow which may not be controlled; now will the Lord give them food like a lamb in a wide place.
17. Ephraim is joined to false gods; let him be.
18. Their drink has become bitter; they are completely false; her rulers take pleasure in shame.
19. They are folded in the skirts of the wind; they will be shamed because of their offerings.

Hosea 5 / Basic English

1. Give ear to this, O priests; give attention, O Israel, and you, family of the king; for you are to be judged; you have been a deceit at Mizpah and a net stretched out on Tabor.
2. They have gone deep in the evil ways of Shittim, but I am the judge of all.
3. I have knowledge of Ephraim, and Israel is not secret from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have been false to me, Israel has become unclean.
4. Their works will not let them come back to their God, for a false spirit is in them and they have no knowledge of the Lord.
5. And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; and Ephraim will have a fall through his sins, and the fall of Judah will be the same as theirs.
6. They will go, with their flocks and their herds, in search of the Lord, but they will not see him; he has taken himself out of their view.
7. They have been false to the Lord; they have given birth to strange children; now the new moon will make them waste with their fields.
8. Let the horn be sounded in Gibeah and in Ramah; give a loud cry in Beth-aven, They are after you, O Benjamin.
9. Ephraim will become a waste in the day of punishment; I have given knowledge among the tribes of Israel of what is certain.
10. The rulers of Judah are like those who take away a landmark; I will let loose my wrath on them like flowing water.
11. Ephraim is troubled; he is crushed by his judges, because he took pleasure in walking after deceit.
12. And so to Ephraim I am like a wasting insect, and a destruction to the children of Judah.
13. When Ephraim saw his disease and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king; but he is not able to make you well or give you help for your wound.
14. For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the children of Judah; I, even I, will give him wounds and go away; I will take him away, and there will be no helper.
15. I will go back to my place till they are made waste; in their trouble they will go after me early and will make search for me.

2 Peter 3 / Basic English

1. My loved ones, this is now my second letter to you, and in this as in the first, I am attempting to keep your true minds awake;
2. So that you may keep in mind the words of the holy prophets in the past, and the law of the Lord and Saviour which was given to you by his Apostles.
3. Having first of all the knowledge that in the last days there will be men who, ruled by their evil desires, will make sport of holy things,
4. Saying, Where is the hope of his coming? From the death of the fathers till now everything has gone on as it was from the making of the world.
5. But in taking this view they put out of their minds the memory that in the old days there was a heaven, and an earth lifted out of the water and circled by water, by the word of God;
6. And that the world which then was came to an end through the overflowing of the waters.
7. But the present heaven and the present earth have been kept for destruction by fire, which is waiting for them on the day of the judging and destruction of evil men.
8. But, my loved ones, keep in mind this one thing, that with the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years are no more than one day.
9. The Lord is not slow in keeping his word, as he seems to some, but he is waiting in mercy for you, not desiring the destruction of any, but that all may be turned from their evil ways.
10. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; and in that day the heavens will be rolled up with a great noise, and the substance of the earth will be changed by violent heat, and the world and everything in it will be burned up.
11. Seeing then that all these things are coming to such an end, what sort of persons is it right for you to be, in all holy behaviour and righteousness,
12. Looking for and truly desiring the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will come to an end through fire, and the substance of the earth will be changed by the great heat?
13. But having faith in his word, we are looking for a new heaven and a new earth, which will be the resting-place of righteousness.
14. For this reason, my loved ones, as you are looking for these things, take great care that when he comes you may be in peace before him, free from sin and every evil thing.
15. And be certain that the long waiting of the Lord is for salvation; even as our brother Paul has said in his letters to you, from the wisdom which was given to him;
16. And as he said in all his letters, which had to do with these things; in which are some hard sayings, so that, like the rest of the holy Writings, they are twisted by those who are uncertain and without knowledge, to the destruction of their souls.
17. For this reason, my loved ones, having knowledge of these things before they take place, take care that you are not turned away by the error of the uncontrolled, so falling from your true faith.
18. But be increased in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May he have glory now and for ever. So be it.