Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Leviticus 21 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron, Let no man make himself unclean for the dead among his people;
2. But only for his near relations, for his mother or his father, his son or his daughter, and his brother;
3. And for his sister, a virgin, for she is his near relation and has had no husband, he may make himself unclean.
4. But let him, being a chief among his people, not make himself unclean in such a way as to put shame on himself.
5. They are not to have their hair cut off for the dead, or the hair on their chins cut short, or make cuts in their flesh.
6. Let them be holy to their God and not make the name of their God common; for the fire offerings of the Lord and the bread of their God are offered by them, and they are to be holy.
7. They may not take as wife a loose or common woman, or one who has been put away by her husband: for the priest is holy to his God.
8. And he is to be holy in your eyes, for by him the bread of your God is offered; he is to be holy in your eyes, for I the Lord, who make you holy, am holy.
9. And if the daughter of a priest makes herself common and by her loose behaviour puts shame on her father, let her be burned with fire.
10. And he who is the chief priest among his brothers, on whose head the holy oil has been put, who is marked out to put on the holy robes, may not let his hair go loose or have his clothing out of order as a sign of sorrow.
11. He may not go near any dead body or make himself unclean for his father or his mother;
12. He may not go out of the holy place or make the holy place of his God common; for the crown of the holy oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord.
13. And let him take as his wife one who has not had relations with a man.
14. A widow, or one whose husband has put her away, or a common woman of loose behaviour, may not be the wife of a priest; but let him take a virgin from among his people.
15. And he may not make his seed unclean among his people, for I the Lord have made him holy.
16. And the Lord said to Moses,
17. Say to Aaron, If a man of your family, in any generation, is damaged in body, let him not come near to make the offering of the bread of his God.
18. For any man whose body is damaged may not come near: one who is blind, or has not the use of his legs, or one who has a broken nose or any unnatural growth,
19. Or a man with broken feet or hands,
20. Or one whose back is bent, or one who is unnaturally small, or one who has a damaged eye, or whose skin is diseased, or whose sex parts are damaged;
21. No man of the offspring of Aaron whose body is damaged in any way may come near to give the fire offerings of the Lord: he is damaged, he may not come near to make the offerings.
22. He may take of the bread of God, the holy and the most holy;
23. But he may not go inside the veil or come near the altar, because he is damaged; and he may not make my holy places common; for I the Lord have made them holy.
24. These are the words which Moses said to Aaron and to his sons and to all the children of Israel.

Leviticus 22 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses,
2. Give orders to Aaron and to his sons to keep themselves separate from the holy things of the children of Israel which they give to me, and not to make my holy name common: I am the Lord,
3. Say to them, If any man of all your seed through all your generations, being unclean, comes near the holy things which the children of Israel make holy to the Lord, he will be cut off from before me: I am the Lord.
4. No man of the seed of Aaron who is a leper, or who has a flow from his body, may take of the holy food till he is clean. And any man touching anything which is unclean because of the dead, or any man whose seed goes from him;
5. Or anyone touching any unclean thing which goes flat on the earth, or someone by whom he may be made unclean in any way whatever;
6. Any person touching any such unclean thing will be unclean till evening, and may not take of the holy food till his flesh has been bathed in water;
7. And when the sun has gone down he will be clean; and after that he may take part in the holy food, because it is his bread.
8. That which comes to a natural death, or is attacked by beasts, he may not take as food, for it will make him unclean: I am the Lord.
9. So then, let them keep what I have put into their care, for fear that sin may come on them because of it, so causing their death because they have made it common: I am the Lord, who make them holy.
10. No outside person may take of the holy food, or one living as a guest in the priest's house, or a servant working for payment.
11. But any person for whom the priest has given money, to make him his, may take of it with him; and those who come to birth in his house may take of his bread.
12. And if the daughter of a priest is married to an outside person she may not take of the holy things which are lifted up as offerings.
13. But if a priest's daughter is a widow, or parted from her husband, and has no child, and has come back to her father's house as when she was a girl, she may take of her father's bread; but no outside person may do so.
14. And if a man takes the holy food in error, he will have to give the holy thing back to the priest, with the addition of a fifth part.
15. And they may not make common the holy things which the children of Israel give to the Lord,
16. So causing sin to come on them when they take their holy things for food: I am the Lord who make them holy.
17. And the Lord said to Moses,
18. Say to Aaron and to his sons and to all the children of Israel, If any man of the children of Israel, or of another nation living in Israel, makes an offering, given because of an oath or freely given to the Lord for a burned offering;
19. So that it may be pleasing to the Lord, let him give a male, without any mark, from among the oxen or the sheep or the goats.
20. But anything which has a mark you may not give; it will not make you pleasing to the Lord.
21. And whoever makes a peace-offering to the Lord, in payment of an oath or as a free offering, from the herd or the flock, if it is to be pleasing to the Lord, let it be free from any mark or damage.
22. Anything blind or broken or damaged or having any disease or any mark on it may not be offered to the Lord; you may not make an offering of it by fire on the altar to the Lord.
23. An ox or a lamb which has more or less than its natural parts, may be given as a free offering; but it will not be taken in payment of an oath.
24. An animal which has its sex parts damaged or crushed or broken or cut, may not be offered to the Lord; such a thing may not be done anywhere in your land.
25. And from one who is not an Israelite you may not take any of these for an offering to the Lord; for they are unclean, there is a mark on them, and the Lord will not be pleased with them.
26. And the Lord said to Moses,
27. When an ox or a sheep or a goat is given birth, let it be with its mother for seven days; and after the eighth day it may be taken as an offering made by fire to the Lord.
28. A cow or a sheep may not be put to death with its young on the same day.
29. And when you make an offering of praise to the Lord, make it in a way which is pleasing to him.
30. Let it be used for food on the same day; do not keep any part of it till the morning: I am the Lord.
31. So then, keep my orders and do them: I am the Lord.
32. And do not make my holy name common; so that it may be kept holy by the children of Israel: I am the Lord who make you holy,
33. Who took you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God: I am the Lord.

Mark 6 / Basic English

1. And he went away from there, and came into his country; and his disciples went with him.
2. And when the Sabbath day had come, he was teaching in the Synagogue; and a number of people hearing him were surprised, saying, From where did this man get these things? and, What is the wisdom given to this man, and what are these works of power done by his hands?
3. Is not this the woodworker, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were bitter against him.
4. And Jesus said to them, A prophet is nowhere without honour, but in his country, and among his relations, and in his family.
5. And he was unable to do any work of power there, but only to put his hands on one or two persons who were ill, and make them well.
6. And he was greatly surprised because they had no faith. And he went about the country places teaching.
7. And he gave orders to the twelve, and sent them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits;
8. And he said that they were to take nothing for their journey, but a stick only; no bread, no bag, no money in their pockets;
9. They were to go with common shoes on their feet, and not to take two coats.
10. And he said to them, Wherever you go into a house, make that your resting-place till you go away.
11. And whatever place will not take you in and will not give ear to you, when you go away, put off the dust from your feet as a witness against them.
12. And they went out, preaching the need for a change of heart in men.
13. And they sent out a number of evil spirits, and put oil on a great number who were ill, and made them well.
14. And king Herod had news of him, because his name was on the lips of all; and he said, John the Baptist has come back from the dead, and for this reason these powers are working in him.
15. But others said, It is Elijah. And others said, It is a prophet, even like one of the prophets.
16. But Herod, when he had news of it, said, John, whom I put to death, has come back from the dead.
17. For Herod himself had sent men out to take John and put him in prison, because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had taken for himself.
18. For John said to Herod, It is wrong for you to have your brother's wife.
19. And Herodias was bitter against him, desiring to put him to death; but she was not able;
20. For Herod was in fear of John, being conscious that he was an upright and holy man, and kept him safe. And hearing him, he was much troubled; and he gave ear to him gladly.
21. And the chance came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee;
22. And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and did a dance, Herod and those who were at table with him were pleased with her; and the king said to the girl, Make a request for anything and I will give it you.
23. And he took an oath, saying to her, Whatever is your desire I will give it to you, even half of my kingdom.
24. And she went out and said to her mother, What is my request to be? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
25. And she came in quickly to the king, and said, My desire is that you give me straight away on a plate the head of John the Baptist.
26. And the king was very sad; but because of his oaths, and those who were with him at table, he would not say 'No' to her.
27. And straight away the king sent out one of his armed men, and gave him an order to come back with the head: and he went and took off John's head in prison,
28. And came back with the head on a plate, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.
29. And when his disciples had news of it, they came and took up his body, and put it in its last resting-place.
30. And the twelve came together to Jesus; and they gave him an account of all the things they had done, and all they had been teaching.
31. And he said to them, Come away by yourselves to a quiet place, and take a rest for a time. Because there were a great number coming and going, and they had no time even for food.
32. And they went away in the boat to a waste place by themselves.
33. And the people saw them going, and a number of them, having knowledge who they were, went running there together on foot from all the towns, and got there before them.
34. And he got out, and saw a great mass of people, and he had pity on them, because they were like sheep without a keeper: and he gave them teaching about a number of things.
35. And at the end of the day, his disciples came to him and said, This place is waste land, and it is late:
36. Send them away, so that they may go into the country and small towns round about, and get some food for themselves.
37. But he said to them in answer, Give them food yourselves. And they said to him, Are we to go and get bread for two hundred pence, and give it to them?
38. And he said to them, How much bread have you? go and see. And when they had seen, they said, Five cakes of bread and two fishes.
39. And he made them all be seated in groups on the green grass.
40. And they were placed in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.
41. And he took the five cakes of bread and the two fishes and, looking up to heaven, he said words of blessing over them; and when the cakes were broken, he gave them to the disciples to put before the people; and he made division of the two fishes among them all.
42. And they all took of the food and had enough.
43. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken bits and of the fishes.
44. And those who took of the bread were five thousand men.
45. And straight away he made his disciples get into the boat, and go before him to the other side to Beth-saida, while he himself sent the people away.
46. And after he had sent them away, he went up into a mountain for prayer.
47. And by evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he by himself on the land.
48. And seeing that they had trouble in getting their boat through the water, because the wind was against them, about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea; and he would have gone past them;
49. But they, when they saw him walking on the sea, took him for a spirit, and gave a loud cry:
50. For they all saw him, and were troubled. But straight away he said to them, Take heart, it is I, have no fear.
51. And he went to them into the boat, and the wind went down, and they were full of wonder in themselves;
52. For it was not clear to them about the bread; but their hearts were hard.
53. And when they had gone across, they came to Gennesaret, and got their boat to land.
54. And when they had got out of the boat, the people quickly had news of him,
55. And went running through all the country round about, and took on their beds those who were ill, to where it was said that he was.
56. And wherever he went, into small towns, or great towns, or into the country, they took those who were ill into the market-places, requesting him that they might put their hands even on the edge of his robe: and all those who did so were made well.