Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 11 / Basic English

1. And all the earth had one language and one tongue.
2. And it came about that in their wandering from the east, they came to a stretch of flat country in the land of Shinar, and there they made their living-place.
3. And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth.
4. And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.
5. And the Lord came down to see the town and the tower which the children of men were building.
6. And the Lord said, See, they are all one people and have all one language; and this is only the start of what they may do: and now it will not be possible to keep them from any purpose of theirs.
7. Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.
8. So the Lord God sent them away into every part of the earth: and they gave up building their town.
9. So it was named Babel, because there the Lord took away the sense of all languages and from there the Lord sent them away over all the face of the earth.
10. These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the great flow of waters;
11. And after the birth of Arpachshad, Shem went on living for five hundred years, and had sons and daughters:
12. And Arpachshad was thirty-five years old when he became the father of Shelah:
13. And after the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:
14. And Shelah was thirty years old when he became the father of Eber:
15. And after the birth of Eber, Shelah went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:
16. And Eber was thirty-four years old when he became the father of Peleg:
17. And after the birth of Peleg, Eber went on living for four hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters:
18. And Peleg was thirty years old when he became the father of Reu:
19. And after the birth of Reu, Peleg went on living for two hundred and nine years, and had sons and daughters:
20. And Reu was thirty-two years old when he became the father of Serug:
21. And after the birth of Serug, Reu went on living for two hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters:
22. And Serug was thirty years old when he became the father of Nahor:
23. And after the birth of Nahor, Serug went on living for two hundred years, and had sons and daughters:
24. And Nahor was twenty-nine years old when he became the father of Terah:
25. And after the birth of Terah, Nahor went on living for a hundred and nineteen years, and had sons and daughters:
26. And Terah was seventy years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27. These are the generations of Terah: Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.
28. And death came to Haran when he was with his father Terah in the land of his birth, Ur of the Chaldees.
29. And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.
30. And Sarai had no child.
31. And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram and they went out from Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and were there for some time.
32. And all the years of Terah's life were two hundred and five: and Terah came to his end in Haran.

Genesis 12 / Basic English

1. Now the Lord said to Abram, Go out from your country and from your family and from your father's house, into the land to which I will be your guide:
2. And I will make of you a great nation, blessing you and making your name great; and you will be a blessing:
3. To them who are good to you will I give blessing, and on him who does you wrong will I put my curse: and you will become a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.
4. So Abram went as the Lord had said to him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went away from Haran.
5. And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their goods and the servants which they had got in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan.
6. And Abram went through the land till he came to Shechem, to the holy tree of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were still living in the land.
7. And the Lord came to Abram, and said, I will give all this land to your seed; then Abram made an altar there to the Lord who had let himself be seen by him.
8. And moving on from there to the mountain on the east of Beth-el, he put up his tent, having Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east: and there he made an altar and gave worship to the name of the Lord.
9. And he went on, journeying still to the South.
10. And because there was little food to be had in that land, he went down into Egypt.
11. Now when he came near to Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, Truly, you are a fair woman and beautiful to the eye;
12. And I am certain that when the men of Egypt see you, they will say, This is his wife: and they will put me to death and keep you.
13. Say, then, that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account.
14. And so it was that when Abram came into Egypt, the men of Egypt, looking on the woman, saw that she was fair.
15. And Pharaoh's great men, having seen her, said words in praise of her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16. And because of her, he was good to Abram, and he had sheep and oxen and asses, and men-servants and women-servants, and camels.
17. And the Lord sent great troubles on Pharaoh's house because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
18. Then Pharaoh sent for Abram, and said, What have you done to me? why did you not say that she was your wife?
19. Why did you say that she was your sister? so that I took her for my wife: now, take your wife and go on your way.
20. And Pharaoh gave orders to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all he had.

Matthew 7 / Basic English

1. Be not judges of others, and you will not be judged.
2. For as you have been judging, so you will be judged, and with your measure will it be measured to you.
3. And why do you take note of the grain of dust in your brother's eye, but take no note of the bit of wood which is in your eye?
4. Or how will you say to your brother, Let me take out the grain of dust from your eye, when you yourself have a bit of wood in your eye?
5. You false one, first take out the bit of wood from your eye, then will you see clearly to take out the grain of dust from your brother's eye.
6. Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, or put your jewels before pigs, for fear that they will be crushed under foot by the pigs whose attack will then be made against you.
7. Make a request, and it will be answered; what you are searching for you will get; give the sign, and the door will be open to you:
8. Because to everyone who makes a request, it will be given; and he who is searching will get his desire, and to him who gives the sign, the door will be open.
9. Or which of you, if his son makes a request for bread, will give him a stone?
10. Or if he makes a request for a fish, will give him a snake?
11. If you, then, being evil, are able to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who make requests to him?
12. All those things, then, which you would have men do to you, even so do you to them: because this is the law and the prophets.
13. Go in by the narrow door; for wide is the door and open is the way which goes to destruction, and great numbers go in by it.
14. For narrow is the door and hard the road to life, and only a small number make discovery of it.
15. Be on the watch for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are cruel wolves.
16. By their fruits you will get knowledge of them. Do men get grapes from thorns or figs from thistles?
17. Even so, every good tree gives good fruit; but the bad tree gives evil fruit.
18. It is not possible for a good tree to give bad fruit, and a bad tree will not give good fruit.
19. Every tree which does not give good fruit is cut down and put in the fire.
20. So by their fruits you will get knowledge of them.
21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will go into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the pleasure of my Father in heaven.
22. A great number will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, were we not prophets in your name, and did we not by your name send out evil spirits, and by your name do works of power?
23. And then will I say to them, I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.
24. Everyone, then, to whom my words come and who does them, will be like a wise man who made his house on a rock;
25. And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house, but it was not moved; because it was based on the rock.
26. And everyone to whom my words come and who does them not, will be like a foolish man who made his house on sand;
27. And the rain came down and there was a rush of waters and the winds were driving against that house; and it came down and great was its fall.
28. And it came about, when Jesus had come to the end of these words, that the people were surprised at his teaching,
29. for he was teaching as one having authority, and not as their scribes.