Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Jonah 2 / Basic English

1. Then Jonah made prayer to the Lord his God from the inside of the fish, and said,
2. In my trouble I was crying to the Lord, and he gave me an answer; out of the deepest underworld I sent up a cry, and you gave ear to my voice.
3. For you have put me down into the deep, into the heart of the sea; and the river was round about me; all your waves and your rolling waters went over me.
4. And I said, I have been sent away from before your eyes; how may I ever again see your holy Temple?
5. The waters were circling round me, even to the neck; the deep was about me; the sea-grass was twisted round my head.
6. I went down to the bases of the mountains; as for the earth, her walls were about me for ever: but you have taken up my life from the underworld, O Lord my God.
7. When my soul in me was overcome, I kept the memory of the Lord: and my prayer came in to you, into your holy Temple.
8. The worshippers of false gods have given up their only hope.
9. But I will make an offering to you with the voice of praise; I will give effect to my oaths. Salvation is the Lord's.
10. And at the Lord's order, the fish sent Jonah out of its mouth on to the dry land.

Jonah 3 / Basic English

1. And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying,
2. Up! go to Nineveh, that great town, and give it the word which I have given you.
3. So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh as the Lord had said. Now Nineveh was a very great town, three days' journey from end to end.
4. And Jonah first of all went a day's journey into the town, and crying out said, In forty days destruction will overtake Nineveh.
5. And the people of Nineveh had belief in God; and a time was fixed for going without food, and they put on haircloth, from the greatest to the least.
6. And the word came to the king of Nineveh, and he got up from his seat of authority, and took off his robe, and covering himself with haircloth, took his seat in the dust.
7. And he had it given out in Nineveh, By the order of the king and his great men, no man or beast, herd or flock, is to have a taste of anything; let them have no food or water:
8. And let man and beast be covered with haircloth, and let them make strong prayers to God: and let everyone be turned from his evil way and the violent acts of their hands.
9. Who may say that God will not be turned, changing his purpose and turning away from his burning wrath, so that destruction may not overtake us?
10. And God saw what they did, how they were turned from their evil way; and God's purpose was changed as to the evil which he said he would do to them, and he did it not.

Jonah 4 / Basic English

1. But this seemed very wrong to Jonah, and he was angry.
2. And he made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? This is why I took care to go in flight to Tarshish: for I was certain that you were a loving God, full of pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, and ready to be turned from your purpose of evil.
3. So now, O Lord, give ear to my prayer and take my life from me; for death is better for me than life.
4. And the Lord said, Have you any right to be angry?
5. Then Jonah went out of the town, and took his seat on the east side of the town and made himself a roof of branches and took his seat under its shade till he saw what would become of the town.
6. And the Lord God made a vine come up over Jonah to give him shade over his head. And Jonah was very glad because of the vine.
7. But early on the morning after, God made ready a worm for the destruction of the vine, and it became dry and dead.
8. Then when the sun came up, God sent a burning east wind: and so great was the heat of the sun on his head that Jonah was overcome, and, requesting death for himself, said, Death is better for me than life.
9. And the Lord said to Jonah, Have you any right to be angry about the vine? And he said, I have a right to be truly angry.
10. And the Lord said, You had pity on the vine, for which you did no work and for the growth of which you were not responsible; which came up in a night and came to an end in a night;
11. And am I not to have mercy on Nineveh, that great town, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons without the power of judging between right and left, as well as much cattle?

Micah 1 / Basic English

1. The word of the Lord which came to Micah the Morashtite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: his vision about Samaria and Jerusalem.
2. Give ear, you peoples, all of you; give attention, O earth and everything in it: let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy Temple.
3. For see, the Lord is coming out from his place, and will come down, stepping on the high places of the earth.
4. And the mountains will be turned to water under him, and the deep valleys will be broken open, like wax before the fire, like waters flowing down a slope.
5. All this is because of the wrongdoing of Jacob and the sins of the children of Israel. What is the wrongdoing of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?
6. So I will make Samaria into a field and the plantings of a vine-garden: I will send its stones falling down into the valley, uncovering its bases.
7. And all her pictured images will be hammered into bits, and all the payments for her loose ways will be burned with fire, and all the images of her gods I will make waste: for with the price of a loose woman she got them together, and as the price of a loose woman will they be given back.
8. For this I will be full of sorrow and give cries of grief; I will go uncovered and unclothed: I will give cries of grief like the jackals and will be in sorrow like the ostriches.
9. For her wounds may not be made well: for it has come even to Judah, stretching up to the doorway of my people, even to Jerusalem.
10. Give no word of it in Gath, let there be no weeping at all: at Beth-le-aphrah be rolling in the dust.
11. Be uncovered and go away, you who are living in Shaphir: the one living in Zaanan has not come out of her town; Beth-ezel is taken away from its base, even from its resting-place.
12. For the one living in Maroth is waiting for good: for evil has come down from the Lord to the doorways of Jerusalem.
13. Let the war-carriage be yoked to the quick-running horse, you who are living in Lachish: she was the first cause of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the wrongdoings of Israel were seen in you.
14. For this cause give a parting offering to Moresheth-gath: the daughter of Achzib will be a deceit to the king of Israel.
15. Even now will the taker of your heritage come to you, you who are living in Mareshah: the glory of Israel will come to destruction for ever.
16. Let your head be uncovered and your hair cut off in sorrow for the children of your delight: let the hair be pulled from your head like an eagle's; for they have been taken away from you as prisoners.

Revelation 4 / Basic English

1. After these things I saw a door open in heaven, and the first voice came to my ears, like the sound of a horn, saying, Come up here, and I will make clear to you the things which are to come.
2. Straight away I was in the Spirit: and I saw a high seat in heaven, and one was seated on it;
3. And to my eyes he was like a jasper and a sardius stone: and there was an arch of light round the high seat, like an emerald.
4. And round about the high seat were four and twenty seats: and on them I saw four and twenty rulers seated, clothed in white robes; and on their heads crowns of gold.
5. And out of the high seat came flames and voices and thunders. And seven lights of fire were burning before the high seat, which are the seven Spirits of God;
6. And before the high seat there was, as it seemed, a clear sea of glass; and in the middle of the high seat, and round about it, four beasts full of eyes round about.
7. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second like an ox, and the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight.
8. And the four beasts, having every one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and inside: and without resting day and night, they say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, Ruler of all, who was and is and is to come.
9. And when the beasts give glory and honour to him who is seated on the high seat, to him who is living for ever and ever,
10. The four and twenty rulers go down on their faces before him who is seated on the high seat, and give worship to him who is living for ever and ever, and take off their crowns before the high seat, saying,
11. It is right, our Lord and our God, for you to have glory and honour and power: because by you were all things made, and by your desire they came into being.

Revelation 5 / Basic English

1. And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the high seat, a book with writing inside it and on the back, shut with seven stamps of wax.
2. And I saw a strong angel saying in a loud voice, Who is able to make the book open, and to undo its stamps?
3. And no one in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to get the book open, or to see what was in it.
4. And I was very sad, because there was no one able to get the book open or to see what was in it.
5. And one of the rulers said to me, Do not be sad: see, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome, and has power to undo the book and its seven stamps.
6. And I saw in the middle of the high seat and of the four beasts, and in the middle of the rulers, a Lamb in his place, which seemed as if it had been put to death, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
7. And he came and took it out of the right hand of him who was seated on the high seat.
8. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty rulers went down on their faces before the Lamb, having every one an instrument of music, and gold vessels full of perfumes, which are the prayers of the saints.
9. And their voices are sounding in a new song, saying, It is right for you to take the book and to make it open: for you were put to death and have made an offering to God of your blood for men of every tribe, and language, and people, and nation,
10. And have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are ruling on the earth.
11. And I saw, and there came to my ears the sound of a great number of angels round about the high seat and the beasts and the rulers; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
12. Saying with a great voice, It is right to give to the Lamb who was put to death, power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing.
13. And to my ears came the voice of everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and of all things which are in them, saying, To him who is seated on the high seat, and to the Lamb, may blessing and honour and glory and power be given for ever and ever.
14. And the four beasts said, So be it. And the rulers went down on their faces and gave worship.