Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Zechariah 4 / Basic English

1. And the angel who was talking to me came again, awaking me as a man out of his sleep.
2. And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see a light-support, made all of gold, with its cup on the top of it and seven lights on it; and there are seven pipes to every one of the lights which are on the top of it;
3. And two olive-trees by it, one on the right side of the cup and one on the left.
4. And I made answer and said to the angel who was talking to me, What are these, my lord?
5. Then the angel who was talking to me, answering me, said, Have you no knowledge of what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
6. This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by force or by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of armies.
7. Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you will become level: and he will let all see the headstone, with cries of Grace, grace, to it.
8. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9. The hands of Zerubbabel have put the base of this house in place, and his hands will make it complete; and it will be clear to you that the Lord of armies has sent me to you.
10. For who has had a poor opinion of the day of small things? for they will be glad when they see the weighted measuring-line in the hand of Zerubbabel. Then he said in answer to me, These seven lights are the eyes of the Lord which go quickly up and down through all the earth.
11. And I made answer and said to him, What are these two olive-trees on the right side of the light-support and on the left?
12. And answering a second time, I said to him, What are these two olive branches, through whose gold pipes the oil is drained out?
13. And he said in answer to me, Have you no knowledge what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
14. And he said, These are the two sons of oil, whose place is by the Lord of all the earth.

Zechariah 5 / Basic English

1. Then again lifting up my eyes I saw a roll in flight through the air.
2. And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, A roll going through the air; it is twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.
3. Then he said to me, This is the curse which goes out over the face of all the land: for long enough has every thief gone without punishment, and long enough has every taker of false oaths gone without punishment.
4. And I will send it out, says the Lord of armies, and it will go into the house of the thief and into the house of him who takes a false oath by my name: and it will be in his house, causing its complete destruction, with its woodwork and its stones.
5. And the angel who was talking to me went out and said to me, Let your eyes be lifted up now, and see the ephah which is going out.
6. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah which is going out. And he said further, This is their evil-doing in all the land.
7. And I saw a round cover of lead lifted up; and a woman was seated in the middle of the ephah.
8. And he said, This is Sin; and pushing her down into the ephah, he put the weight of lead on the mouth of it.
9. And lifting up my eyes I saw two women coming out, and the wind was in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they took the ephah, lifting it up between earth and heaven.
10. And I said to the angel who was talking to me, Where are they taking the ephah?
11. And he said to me, To make a house for her in the land of Shinar: and they will make a place ready, and put her there in the place which is hers.

Zechariah 6 / Basic English

1. And again lifting up my eyes I saw four war-carriages coming out from between the two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.
2. In the first war-carriage were red horses; and in the second, black horses;
3. And in the third, white horses; and in the fourth, horses of mixed colour.
4. And I made answer and said to the angel who was talking to me, What are these, my lord?
5. And the angel, answering, said to me, These go out to the four winds of heaven from their place before the Lord of all the earth.
6. The carriage in which are the black horses goes in the direction of the north country; the white go to the west; and those of mixed colour go in the direction of the south country.
7. And the red ones go to the east; and they made request that they might go up and down through the earth: and he said, Go up and down through the earth. So they went up and down through the earth.
8. Then crying out to me, he said, See, those who are going to the north country have given rest to the spirit of the Lord in the north country.
9. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
10. Take the offerings of those who went away as prisoners, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, and from the family of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, who have come from Babylon;
11. And take silver and gold and make a crown and put it on the head of Zerubbabel;
12. And say to him, These are the words of the Lord of armies: See, the man whose name is the Branch, under whom there will be fertile growth.
13. And he will be the builder of the Temple of the Lord; and the glory will be his, and he will take his place as ruler on the seat of power; and Joshua will be a priest at his right hand, and between them there will be a design of peace.
14. And the crown will be for grace to Heldai and Tobijah and Jedaiah and the son of Zephaniah, to keep their memory living in the house of the Lord.
15. And those who are far away will come and be builders in the Temple of the Lord, and it will be clear to you that the Lord of armies has sent me to you.

Zechariah 7 / Basic English

1. And it came about in the fourth year of King Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month Chislev.
2. Now they of Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech to make a request for grace from the Lord,
3. And to say to the priests of the house of the Lord of armies and to the prophets, Am I to go on weeping in the fifth month, separating myself as I have done in past years?
4. Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying
5. Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, When you went without food and gave yourselves to grief in the fifth and the seventh months for these seventy years, did you ever do it because of me?
6. And when you are feasting and drinking, are you not doing it only for yourselves?
7. Are not these the words which the Lord said to you by the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was full of people and wealth, and the towns round about her and the South and the Lowland were peopled?
8. And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying,
9. This is what the Lord of armies has said: Let your judging be upright and done in good faith, let every man have mercy and pity for his brother:
10. Do not be hard on the widow, or the child without a father, on the man from a strange country, or on the poor; let there be no evil thought in your heart against your brother.
11. But they would not give attention, turning their backs and stopping their ears from hearing;
12. And they made their hearts like the hardest stone, so that they might not give ear to the law and the words which the Lord of armies had said by the earlier prophets: and there came great wrath from the Lord of armies.
13. And it came about that as they would not give ear to his voice, so I would not give ear to their voice, says the Lord of armies:
14. But with a storm-wind I sent them in flight among all the nations of whom they had no knowledge. So the land was waste after them, so that no man went through or came back: for they had made waste the desired land.

Revelation 17 / Basic English

1. And one of the seven angels who had the seven vessels came and said to me, Come here, so that you may see the judging of the evil woman who is seated on the great waters;
2. With whom the kings of the earth made themselves unclean, and those who are on the earth were full of the wine of her evil desires.
3. And he took me away in the Spirit into a waste land: and I saw a woman seated on a bright red beast, full of evil names, having seven heads and ten horns,
4. And the woman was clothed in purple and bright red, with ornaments of gold and stones of great price and jewels; and in her hand was a gold cup full of evil things and her unclean desires;
5. And on her brow was a name, SECRET, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE EVIL WOMEN AND OF THE UNCLEAN THINGS OF THE EARTH.
6. And I saw the woman overcome as with the wine of the blood of the saints, and the blood of those put to death because of Jesus. And when I saw her, I was overcome with a great wonder.
7. And the angel said to me, Why were you surprised? I will make clear to you the secret of the woman, and of the beast on which she is seated, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.
8. The beast which you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the great deep, and to go into destruction. And those who are on the earth, whose names have not been put in the book of life from the first, will be full of wonder when they see the beast, that he was, and is not, and still will be.
9. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman is seated:
10. And they are seven kings; the five have come to an end, the one is, the other has not come; and when he comes, he will have to go on for a little time.
11. And the beast which was, and is not, is himself the eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes into destruction.
12. And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which still have been given no kingdom; but they are given authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour.
13. These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast.
14. These will make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because he is the Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with him are named, marked out, and true.
15. And he said to me, The waters which you saw, where the evil woman is seated, are peoples, and armies, and nations and languages.
16. And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will be turned against the evil woman, and will make her waste and uncovered, and will take her flesh for food, and will have her burned with fire.
17. Because God has put it in their hearts to do his purpose, and to be of one mind, giving their kingdom to the beast, till the words of God have effect and are complete.
18. And the woman whom you saw is the great town, which is ruling over the kings of the earth.

Revelation 18 / Basic English

1. After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was bright with his glory.
2. And he gave a loud cry, saying, Babylon the great has come down from her high place, she has come to destruction and has become a place of evil spirits, and of every unclean spirit, and a hole for every unclean and hated bird.
3. For through the wine of the wrath of her evil desires all the nations have come to destruction; and the kings of the earth made themselves unclean with her, and the traders of the earth had their wealth increased by the power of her evil ways.
4. And another voice from heaven came to my ears, saying, Come out of her, my people, so that you may have no part in her sins and in her punishments.
5. For her sins have gone up even to heaven, and God has taken note of her evil-doing.
6. Give to her as she gave, even an increased reward for her works; in the cup which was mixed by her, let there be mixed as much again for herself.
7. As she gave glory to herself, and became more evil in her ways, in the same measure give her pain and weeping: for she says in her heart, I am seated here a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see sorrow.
8. For this reason in one day will her troubles come, death and sorrow and need of food; and she will be completely burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who is her judge.
9. And the kings of the earth, who made themselves unclean with her, and in her company gave themselves up to evil, will be weeping and crying over her, when they see the smoke of her burning,
10. Watching from far away, for fear of her punishment, saying, Sorrow, sorrow for Babylon, the great town, the strong town! for in one hour you have been judged.
11. And the traders of the earth are weeping and crying over her, because no man has any more desire for their goods,
12. Gold, and silver, and stones of great price, and jewels, and delicate linen, and robes of purple and silk and red; and perfumed wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of fair wood, and of brass, and iron, and stone;
13. And sweet-smelling plants, and perfumes, and wine, and oil, and well crushed grain, and cattle and sheep; and horses and carriages and servants; and souls of men.
14. And the fruit of your soul's desire has gone from you, and all things delicate and shining have come to an end and will never again be seen.
15. The traders in these things, by which their wealth was increased, will be watching far off for fear of her punishment, weeping and crying;
16. Saying, Sorrow, sorrow for the great town, she who was clothed in delicate linen, and purple, and red; with ornaments of gold and stones of great price and jewels!
17. For in one hour such great wealth has come to nothing. And every shipmaster, and all who are sailing on the sea, and sailors and all who get their living by the sea, were watching from far away,
18. And crying out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What town is like the great town?
19. And they put dust on their heads, and were sad, weeping and crying, and saying, Sorrow, sorrow for the great town, in which was increased the wealth of all who had their ships on the sea because of her great stores! for in one hour she is made waste.
20. Be glad over her, heaven, and you saints, and Apostles, and prophets; because she has been judged by God on your account.
21. And a strong angel took up a stone like the great stone with which grain is crushed, and sent it into the sea, saying, So, with a great fall, will Babylon, the great town, come to destruction, and will not be seen any more at all.
22. And the voice of players and makers of music will never again be sounding in you: and no worker, expert in art, will ever again be living in you; and there will be no sound of the crushing of grain any more at all in you;
23. And never again will the shining of lights be seen in you; and the voice of the newly-married man and the bride will never again be sounding in you: for your traders were the lords of the earth, and by your evil powers were all the nations turned out of the right way.
24. And in her was seen the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been put to death on the earth.