Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Exodus 32 / Basic English

1. And when the people saw that Moses was a long time coming down from the mountain, they all came to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us a god to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him.
2. Then Aaron said to them, Take off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters, and give them to me.
3. And all the people took the gold rings from their ears and gave them to Aaron.
4. And he took the gold from them and, hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox: and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt.
5. And when Aaron saw this, he made an altar before it, and made a public statement, saying, Tomorrow there will be a feast to the Lord.
6. So early on the day after they got up and made burned offerings and peace-offerings; and took their seats at the feast, and then gave themselves to pleasure.
7. And the Lord said to Moses, Go down quickly; for your people, whom you took out of the land of Egypt, are turned to evil ways;
8. Even now they are turned away from the rule I gave them, and have made themselves a metal ox and given worship to it and offerings, saying, This is your god, O Israel, who took you up out of the land of Egypt.
9. And the Lord said to Moses, I have been watching this people, and I see that they are a stiff-necked people.
10. Now do not get in my way, for my wrath is burning against them; I will send destruction on them, but of you I will make a great nation.
11. But Moses made prayer to God, saying, Lord, why is your wrath burning against your people whom you took out of the land of Egypt, with great power and with the strength of your hand?
12. Why let the Egyptians say, He took them out to an evil fate, to put them to death on the mountains, cutting them off from the earth? Let your wrath be turned away from them, and send not this evil on your people.
13. Have in mind Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you gave your oath, saying, I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and all this land will I give to your seed, as I said, to be their heritage for ever.
14. So the Lord let himself be turned from his purpose of sending punishment on his people.
15. Then Moses came down the mountain with the two stones of the law in his hand; the stones had writing on their two sides, on the front and on the back.
16. The stones were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, cut on the stones.
17. Now when the noise and the voices of the people came to the ears of Joshua, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the tents.
18. And Moses said, It is not the voice of men who are overcoming in the fight, or the cry of those who have been overcome; it is the sound of songs which comes to my ear.
19. And when he came near the tents he saw the image of the ox, and the people dancing; and in his wrath Moses let the stones go from his hands, and they were broken at the foot of the mountain.
20. And he took the ox which they had made, burning it in the fire and crushing it to powder, and he put it in the water and made the children of Israel take a drink of it.
21. And Moses said to Aaron, What did the people do to you that you let this great sin come on them?
22. And Aaron said, Let not my lord be angry; you have seen how the purposes of this people are evil.
23. For they said to me, Make us a god to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has come to him.
24. Then I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let him take it off; so they gave it to me, and I put it in the fire, and this image of an ox came out.
25. And Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them loose to their shame before their haters:
26. Then Moses took his place at the way into the tents, and said, Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi came together to him.
27. And he said to them, This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: Let every man take his sword at his side, and go from one end of the tents to the other, putting to death his brother and his friend and his neighbour.
28. And the sons of Levi did as Moses said; and about three thousand of the people were put to death that day.
29. And Moses said, You have made yourselves priests to the Lord this day; for every one of you has made the offering of his son and his brother; the blessing of the Lord is on you this day.
30. And on the day after, Moses said to the people, Great has been your sin: but I will go up to the Lord, and see if I may get forgiveness for your sin.
31. Then Moses went back to the Lord and said, This people has done a great sin, making themselves a god of gold;
32. But now, if you will give them forgiveness--but if not, let my name be taken out of your book.
33. And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has done evil against me will be taken out of my book.
34. But now, go, take the people into that place of which I have given you word; see, my angel will go before you: but when the time of my judging has come, I will send punishment on them for their sin.
35. And the Lord sent punishment on the people because they gave worship to the ox which Aaron made.

Exodus 33 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses, Go forward from this place, you and the people whom you have taken up out of the land of Egypt, to that land about which I made an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, To your seed will I give it.
2. And I will send an angel before you, driving out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite:
3. Go up to that land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, for fear that I send destruction on you while you are on the way.
4. Hearing this bad news the people were full of grief, and no one put on his ornaments.
5. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people: if I come among you, even for a minute, I will send destruction on you; so take off all your ornaments, so that I may see what to do with you.
6. So the children of Israel took off their ornaments at Mount Horeb, and did not put them on again.
7. Now it was Moses' way to put up the Tent of meeting outside the tent-circle, at some distance away; giving it the name of The Tent of meeting. And everyone desiring to make his prayer to the Lord went to the Tent of meeting outside the tent-circle.
8. And whenever Moses went out to the Tent of meeting, all the people got up and everyone went to the door of his tent, looking after Moses till he went inside the Tent.
9. And whenever Moses went into the Tent, the pillar of cloud came down, and took its place by the door of the Tent, as long as the Lord was talking with Moses.
10. And all the people saw the cloud at the door of the Tent, and they went down on their faces, everyone at the door of his tent.
11. And the Lord had talk with Moses face to face, as a man may have talk with his friend. And when Moses came back to the tents, his servant, the young man Joshua, the son of Nun, did not come away from the Tent.
12. And Moses said to the Lord, See, you say to me, Be this people's guide on their journey, but you have not made clear to me whom you will send with me. But you have said, I have knowledge of you by name, and you have grace in my eyes.
13. If then I have grace in your eyes, let me see your ways, so that I may have knowledge of you and be certain of your grace; and my prayer is that you will keep in mind that this nation is your people.
14. And he said, I myself will go with you and give you rest.
15. And Moses said, If you yourself are not going with us, do not send us on from here.
16. For is not the fact of your going with us the sign that I and this people have grace in your eyes, so that we, that is, I and your people, are separate from all other people on the face of the earth?
17. And the Lord said to Moses, I will do as you say: for you have grace in my eyes, and I have knowledge of you by your name.
18. And Moses said, O Lord, let me see your glory.
19. And he said, I will make all the light of my being come before you, and will make clear to you what I am; I will be kind to those to whom I will be kind, and have mercy on those on whom I will have mercy.
20. But it is not possible for you to see my face, for no man may see me and still go on living.
21. And the Lord said, See, there is a place near me, and you may take your place on the rock:
22. And when my glory goes by, I will put you in a hole in the rock, covering you with my hand till I have gone past:
23. Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back: but my face is not to be seen.

Psalms 35 / Basic English

1. <Of David.> O Lord, be on my side against those who are judging me; be at war with those who make war against me.
2. Be a breastplate to me, and give me your help.
3. Take up your spear and keep back my attackers; say to my soul, I am your salvation.
4. Let them be overcome and put to shame who make attempts to take my soul; let those who would do me damage be turned back and made foolish.
5. Let them be like dust from the grain before the wind; let the angel of the Lord send them in flight.
6. Let their way be dark and full of danger; let them be troubled by the angel of the Lord.
7. For without cause they have put a net ready for me secretly, in which to take my soul.
8. Let destruction come on them without their knowledge; let them be taken themselves in their secret nets, falling into the same destruction.
9. And my soul will have joy in the Lord; it will be glad in his salvation.
10. All my bones will say, Lord, who is like you? The saviour of the poor man from the hands of the strong, of him who is poor and in need from him who takes his goods.
11. False witnesses got up: they put questions to me about crimes of which I had no knowledge.
12. They gave me back evil for good, troubling my soul.
13. But as for me, when they were ill I put on the clothing of sorrow: I went without food and was sad, and my prayer came back again to my heart.
14. My behaviour was as if it had been my friend or my brother: I was bent low in grief like one whose mother is dead.
15. But they took pleasure in my trouble, and came together, yes, low persons came together against me without my knowledge; they never came to an end of wounding me.
16. Like men of deceit they put me to shame; the voice of their wrath was loud against me.
17. Lord, how long will you be looking on? take my soul from their destruction, my life from the lions.
18. I will give you praise in the great meeting; I will give you honour among a strong people.
19. Do not let my haters be glad over me falsely; let not those who are against me without cause make sport of me.
20. For they do not say words of peace; in their deceit they are designing evil things against the quiet ones in the land.
21. Their mouths were open wide against me, and they said, Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it.
22. You have seen this, O Lord; be not unmoved: O Lord, be not far from me.
23. Be awake, O Lord, be moved to take up my cause, my God and my Lord.
24. Be my judge, O Lord my God, in your righteousness; do not let them be glad over me.
25. Let them not say in their hearts, So we will have it: let them not say, We have put an end to him.
26. Let all those who take pleasure in my troubles be shamed and come to nothing: let those who are lifted up against me be covered with shame and have no honour.
27. Let those who are on my side give cries of joy; let them ever say, The Lord be praised, for he has pleasure in the peace of his servant.
28. And my tongue will be talking of your righteousness and of your praise all the day.