Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Leviticus 19 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses,
2. Say to all the people of Israel, You are to be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.
3. Let every man give honour to his mother and to his father and keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.
4. Do not go after false gods, and do not make metal images of gods for yourselves: I am the Lord your God.
5. And when you give a peace offering to the Lord, do it in the way which is pleasing to the Lord.
6. Let it be used for food on the same day on which it is offered, or on the day after; and whatever is over on the third day is to be burned with fire.
7. If any of it is used for food on the third day, it is a disgusting thing and will not be pleasing to the Lord.
8. And as for anyone who takes it for food, his sin will be on him, for he has put shame on the holy thing of the Lord: he will be cut off from his people.
9. And when you get in the grain from your land, do not let all the grain be cut from the edges of the field, or take up what has been dropped on the earth after the getting in of the grain.
10. And do not take all the grapes from your vine-garden, or the fruit dropped on the earth; let the poor man, and the man from another country, have these: I am the Lord your God.
11. Do not take anyone's property or be false in act or word to another.
12. And do not take an oath in my name falsely, putting shame on the name of your God: I am the Lord.
13. Do not be cruel to your neighbour or take what is his; do not keep back a servant's payment from him all night till the morning.
14. Do not put a curse on those who have no hearing, or put a cause of falling in the way of the blind, but keep the fear of your God before you: I am the Lord.
15. Do no wrong in your judging: do not give thought to the position of the poor, or honour to the position of the great; but be a judge to your neighbour in righteousness.
16. Do not go about saying untrue things among your people, or take away the life of your neighbour by false witness: I am the Lord.
17. Let there be no hate in your heart for your brother; but you may make a protest to your neighbour, so that he may be stopped from doing evil.
18. Do not make attempts to get equal with one who has done you wrong, or keep hard feelings against the children of your people, but have love for your neighbour as for yourself: I am the Lord.
19. Keep my laws. Do not let your cattle have offspring by those of a different sort; do not put mixed seed into your field; do not put on a robe made of two sorts of cloth.
20. If any man has sex relations with a servant-woman who has given her word to be married to a man, and has not been made free for a price or in any other way, the thing will be looked into; but they will not be put to death because she was not a free woman.
21. Let him take his offering for wrongdoing to the Lord, to the door of the Tent of meeting; let him give a male sheep as an offering for wrongdoing.
22. And the priest will take away his sin before the Lord with the sheep which is offered for his wrongdoing, and he will have forgiveness for the sin which he has done.
23. And when you have come into the land, and have put in all sorts of fruit-trees, their fruit will be as if they had not had circumcision, and for three years their fruit may not be used for food.
24. And in the fourth year all the fruit will be holy as a praise-offering to the Lord.
25. But in the fifth year you may take the fruit and the increase of it for your food: I am the Lord your God.
26. Nothing may be used for food with its blood in it; you may not make use of strange arts, or go in search of signs and wonders.
27. The ends of the hair round your face and on your chin may not be cut off.
28. You may not make cuts in your flesh in respect for the dead, or have marks printed on your bodies: I am the Lord.
29. Do not make your daughter common by letting her become a loose woman, for fear that the land may become full of shame.
30. Keep my Sabbaths and have respect for my holy place: I am the Lord.
31. Do not go after those who make use of spirits, or wonder-workers; do not go in their ways or become unclean through them: I am the Lord your God.
32. Get up from your seats before the white-haired, and give honour to the old, and let the fear of your God be before you: I am the Lord.
33. And if a man from another country is living in your land with you, do not make life hard for him;
34. Let him be to you as one of your countrymen and have love for him as for yourself; for you were living in a strange land, in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
35. Do not make false decisions in questions of yard-sticks and weights and measures.
36. Have true scales, true weights and measures for all things: I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt;
37. You are to keep all my rules and my decisions and do them: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 20 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses,
2. Again, say to the children of Israel, If any man of the children of Israel, or any other man living in Israel, gives his offspring to Molech, he is certainly to be put to death: he is to be stoned by the people of the land;
3. And my face will be turned against that man, and he will be cut off from his people; because he has given his offspring to Molech, making my holy place unclean, and making my holy name common.
4. And if the people of the land do not take note of that man when he gives his offspring to Molech, and do not put him to death,
5. Then my face will be turned against him and his family, and he and all those who do evil with him will be cut off from among their people.
6. And whoever goes after those who make use of spirits and wonder-workers, doing evil with them, against him will my face be turned, and he will be cut off from among his people.
7. So make and keep yourselves holy, for I am the Lord your God.
8. And keep my rules and do them: I am the Lord, who make you holy.
9. Every man cursing his father or his mother is certainly to be put to death; because of his curse on his father or his mother, his blood will be on him.
10. And if a man has sex relations with another man's wife, even the wife of his neighbour, he and she are certainly to be put to death.
11. And the man who has sex relations with his father's wife has put shame on his father: the two of them are to be put to death; their blood will be on them.
12. And if a man has sex relations with his son's wife, the two of them are to be put to death: it is unnatural; their blood will be on them.
13. And if a man has sex relations with a man, the two of them have done a disgusting thing: let them be put to death; their blood will be on them.
14. And if a man takes as wife a woman and her mother, it is an act of shame; let them be burned with fire, all three of them, so that there may be no shame among you.
15. And if a man has sex relations with a beast, let him be put to death, and let the beast be put to destruction.
16. And if a woman goes near a beast and has sex relations with it, you will put an end to the woman and the beast: their blood will be on them.
17. And if a man takes his sister, daughter of his father or his mother, and has sex relations with her and she with him, it is an act of shame: they are to be cut off before the children of their people; he has had sex relations with his sister, and his sin will be on him.
18. And if a man has sex relations with a woman at the time when she is unwell, he has seen her fountain and she has let the fountain of her blood be uncovered, and the two of them are to be cut off from among their people.
19. And you may not have sex connection with your mother's sister or your father's sister, for they are his near relations: their sin will be on them.
20. And if a man has sex relations with the wife of his father's brother, he has put shame on his father's brother: their sin will be on them; till the day of their death they will have no children.
21. And if a man takes his brother's wife, it is an unclean act; he has put shame on his brother; they will have no children.
22. So then, keep my rules and my decisions and do them, so that the land which I am giving you as your resting-place may not violently send you out again.
23. And do not keep the rules of the nations which I am driving out before you; for they did all these things, and for that reason my soul was turned against them.
24. But I have said to you, You will take their land and I will give it to you for your heritage, a land flowing with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God who have made you separate from all other peoples.
25. So then, make division between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the clean bird and the unclean: do not make yourselves disgusting by any beast or bird or anything which goes flat on the earth, which has been marked by me as unclean for you.
26. And you are to be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy and have made you separate from the nations, so that you may be my people.
27. Any man or woman who makes use of spirits, or who is a wonder-worker, is to be put to death: they are to be stoned with stones: their blood will be on them.

Mark 5 / Basic English

1. And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.
2. And when he had got out of the boat, straight away there came to him from the place of the dead a man with an unclean spirit.
3. He was living in the place of the dead: and no man was able to keep him down, no, not with a chain;
4. Because he had frequently been prisoned in chains and iron bands, and the chains had been parted and the bands broken by him: and no man was strong enough to make him quiet.
5. And all the time, by day and by night, in the place of the dead, and in the mountains, he was crying out and cutting himself with stones.
6. And when he saw Jesus from far off, he went quickly to him and gave him worship;
7. And crying out with a loud voice he said, What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God's name, do not be cruel to me.
8. For Jesus had said to him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.
9. And Jesus said, What is your name? And he made answer, My name is Legion, because there are a great number of us.
10. And he made strong prayers to him not to send them away out of the country.
11. Now on the mountain side there was a great herd of pigs getting their food.
12. And they said to him, Send us into the pigs, so that we may go into them.
13. And he let them do it. And the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs; and the herd went rushing down a sharp slope into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they came to their death in the sea.
14. And their keepers went running and gave an account of it in the town and in the country. And people came to see what had taken place.
15. And they came to Jesus, and saw the man in whom had been the evil spirits seated, clothed and with full use of his senses, and they were full of fear.
16. And those who had seen it gave them an account of what had been done to him who had the evil spirits, and of the fate of the pigs.
17. And they made a request to him to go out of their country.
18. And when he was getting into the boat, the man in whom had been the evil spirits had a great desire to come with him.
19. And he would not let him, but said to him, Go to your house, to your friends, and give them news of the great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you.
20. And he went on his way, and made public in the country of Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him: and all men were full of wonder.
21. And when Jesus had gone over again in the boat to the other side, a great number of people came to him: and he was by the sea.
22. And one of the rulers of the Synagogue, Jairus by name, came, and seeing him, went down at his feet,
23. And made strong prayers to him, saying, My little daughter is near to death: it is my prayer that you will come and put your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and have life.
24. And he went with him; and a great number of people went after him, and came round him.
25. And a woman, who had had a flow of blood for twelve years,
26. And had undergone much at the hands of a number of medical men, and had given all she had, and was no better, but even worse,
27. When she had news of the things which Jesus did, went among the people coming after him, and put her hand on his robe.
28. For she said, If I may only put my hand on his robe, I will be made well.
29. And straight away the fountain of her blood was stopped, and she had a feeling in her body that her disease had gone and she was well.
30. And straight away Jesus was conscious that power had gone out of him; and, turning to the people, he said, Who was touching my robe?
31. And his disciples said to him, You see the people round you on every side, and you say, Who was touching me?
32. And on his looking round to see her who had done this thing,
33. The woman, shaking with fear, conscious of what had been done to her, came and, falling on her face before him, gave him a true account of everything.
34. And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be free from your disease.
35. And while he was still talking, they came from the ruler of the Synagogue's house, saying, Your daughter is dead: why are you still troubling the Master?
36. But Jesus, giving no attention to their words, said to the ruler of the Synagogue, Have no fear, only have faith.
37. And he did not let anyone come with him, but Peter and James and John, the brother of James.
38. And they came to the house of the ruler of the Synagogue; and he saw people running this way and that, and weeping and crying loudly.
39. And when he had gone in, he said to them, Why are you making such a noise and weeping? The child is not dead, but sleeping.
40. And they were laughing at him. But he, having sent them all out, took the father of the child and her mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.
41. And taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha cumi, which is, My child, I say to you, Get up.
42. And the young girl got up straight away, and was walking about; she being twelve years old. And they were overcome with wonder.
43. And he gave them special orders that they were not to say anything of this; and he said that some food was to be given to her.