Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Numbers 5 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses,
2. Give orders to the children of Israel to put outside the tent-circle every leper, and anyone who has any sort of flow from his body, and anyone who is unclean from the touch of the dead;
3. Male or female they are to be put outside the tent-circle, so that they may not make unclean my resting-place among them.
4. So the children of Israel did as the Lord had said to Moses, and put them outside the tent-circle.
5. And the Lord said to Moses,
6. Say to the children of Israel, If a man or a woman does any of the sins of men, going against the word of the Lord, and is in the wrong;
7. Let them say openly what they have done; and make payment for the wrong done, with the addition of a fifth part, and give it to him to whom the wrong was done.
8. But if the man has no relation to whom the payment may be made, then the payment for sin made to the Lord will be the priest's, in addition to the sheep offered to take away his sin.
9. And every offering lifted up of all the holy things which the children of Israel give to the priest, will be his.
10. And every man's holy things will be his: whatever a man gives to the priest will be his.
11. And the Lord said to Moses,
12. Say to the children of Israel, If any man's wife does wrong, sinning against him
13. By taking as her lover another man, and keeps it secret so that her husband has no knowledge of it, and there is no witness against her, and she is not taken in the act;
14. If the spirit of doubt comes into her husband's heart, and he has doubts of his wife, with good cause; or if he has doubts of her without cause:
15. Then let him take her to the priest, offering for her the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal, without oil or perfume; for it is a meal offering of a bitter spirit, a meal offering keeping wrongdoing in mind.
16. And the priest will make her come near and put her before the Lord;
17. And the priest will take holy water in a pot and put in it dust from the floor of the House;
18. And he will make the woman come before the Lord with her hair loose, and will put the meal offering, the offering of a bitter spirit, in her hands; and the priest will take in his hand the bitter water causing the curse;
19. And he will make her take an oath, and say to her, If no man has been your lover and you have not been with another in place of your husband, you are free from this bitter water causing the curse;
20. But if you have been with another in place of your husband and have made yourself unclean with a lover:
21. Then the priest will put the oath of the curse on the woman, and say to her, May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, sending on you wasting of the legs and disease of the stomach;
22. And this water of the curse will go into your body, causing disease of your stomach and wasting of your legs: and the woman will say, So be it.
23. And the priest will put these curses in a book, washing out the writing with the bitter water;
24. And he will give to the woman the bitter water for drink; and the bitter water causing the curse will go into her.
25. And the priest will take from her hand the meal offering of doubt, waving it before the Lord, and will take it to the altar;
26. And he will take some of it in his hand, burning it on the altar as a sign, and then he will give the woman the bitter water.
27. And it will be that if the woman has become unclean, sinning against her husband, when she has taken the bitter water it will go into her body, causing disease of the stomach and wasting of the legs, and she will be a curse among her people.
28. But if she is clean she will be free and will have offspring.
29. This is the law for testing a wife who goes with another in place of her husband and becomes unclean;
30. Or for a husband who, in a bitter spirit, has doubts in his heart about his wife; let him take her to the priest, who will put in force this law.
31. Then the man will be free from all wrong, and the woman's sin will be on her.

Numbers 6 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses,
2. Say to the children of Israel, If a man or a woman takes an oath to keep himself separate and give himself to the Lord;
3. He is to keep himself from wine and strong drink, and take no mixed wine or strong drink or any drink made from grapes, or any grapes, green or dry.
4. All the time he is separate he may take nothing made from the grape-vine, from its seeds to its skin.
5. All the time he is under his oath let no blade come near his head; till the days while he is separate are ended he is holy and his hair may not be cut.
6. All the time he is separate he may not come near any dead body.
7. He may not make himself unclean for his father or his mother, his sister or his brother, if death comes to them; because he is under an oath to keep himself separate for God.
8. All the time he is separate he is holy to the Lord.
9. If death comes suddenly to a man at his side, so that he becomes unclean, let his hair be cut off on the day when he is made clean, on the seventh day.
10. And on the eighth day let him take to the priest, at the door of the Tent of meeting, two doves or two young pigeons;
11. And the priest will give one for a sin-offering and the other for a burned offering to take away the sin which came on him on account of the dead, and he will make his head holy that same day.
12. And he will give to the Lord his days of being separate, offering a he-lamb of the first year as an offering for error: but the earlier days will be a loss, because he became unclean.
13. And this is the law for him who is separate, when the necessary days are ended: he is to come to the door of the Tent of meeting,
14. And make his offering to the Lord; one he-lamb of the first year, without a mark, for a burned offering, and one female lamb of the first year, without a mark, for a sin-offering, and one male sheep, without a mark, for peace-offerings,
15. And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of the best meal mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes covered with oil, with their meal offering and drink offerings.
16. And the priest will take them before the Lord, and make his sin-offering and his burned offering;
17. Giving the sheep of the peace-offerings, with the basket of unleavened bread; and at the same time, the priest will make his meal offering and his drink offering.
18. Then let his long hair, the sign of his oath, be cut off at the door of the Tent of meeting, and let him put it on the fire on which the peace-offerings are burning.
19. And the priest will take the cooked leg of the sheep and one unleavened cake and one thin cake out of the basket, and put them on the hands of the separate one after his hair has been cut,
20. Waving them for a wave offering before the Lord; this is holy for the priest, together with the waved breast and the leg which is lifted up; after that, the man may take wine.
21. This is the law for him who takes an oath to keep himself separate, and for his offering to the Lord on that account, in addition to what he may be able to get; this is the law of his oath, which he will have to keep.
22. And the Lord said to Moses,
23. Say to Aaron and his sons, These are the words of blessing which are to be used by you in blessing the children of Israel; say to them,
24. May the Lord send his blessing on you and keep you:
25. May the light of the Lord's face be shining on you in grace:
26. May the Lord's approval be resting on you and may he give you peace.
27. So they will put my name on the children of Israel, and I will give them my blessing.

Mark 13 / Basic English

1. And when he was going out of the Temple, one of his disciples said to him, Master, see, what stones and what buildings!
2. And Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? there is not one stone here resting on another which will not be overturned.
3. And while he was seated on the Mountain of Olives opposite the Temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew said to him privately,
4. Say when these things will be, and what will be the sign when these things are all about to be done.
5. And Jesus said to them, Take care that you are not tricked by anyone.
6. People will come in my name, saying, I am he; and a number will be turned from the true way.
7. And when you have news of wars and talk of wars, do not be troubled; these things have to be, but it is still not the end.
8. Nation will go to war with nation, and kingdom with kingdom: there will be earth-shocks in different places; there will be times when there is no food; these things are the first of the troubles.
9. But take care: for they will give you up to the Sanhedrins; and in Synagogues you will be whipped; and you will be taken before rulers and kings because of me, for a sign to them.
10. And the good news has first to be given to all the nations.
11. And when you are taken and given up to be judged, do not be troubled about what to say: but whatever is given to you in that hour, say: because it is not you who say it, but the Holy Spirit.
12. And brother will give up brother to death, and the father his child; and children will go against their fathers and mothers, and put them to death.
13. And you will be hated by all men, because of my name; but he who goes through to the end will have salvation.
14. But when you see the unclean thing which makes destruction, in the place where it has no right to be (let this be clear to the reader), then let those who are in Judaea go quickly to the mountains:
15. And let him who is on the house-top not go down, or go in, to take anything out of his house:
16. And let not him who is in the field go back to take his coat.
17. And it will be hard for women who are with child and for her who has a baby at the breast in those days.
18. And say a prayer that it may not be in the winter.
19. For in those days there will be sorrow, such as there has not been from the time when God made the world till now, and will not ever be again.
20. And if the Lord had not made the time short, no flesh would have been kept from destruction; but because of the saints he has made the time short.
21. And then if any man says to you, See, here is Christ; or, See, there; have no faith in it:
22. Because there will be false Christs and false prophets, and they will give signs and wonders in the hope of turning even the saints from the true way.
23. But take care; see, I have made all things clear to you before the time.
24. But in those days, after that time of trouble, the sun will be made dark and the moon will not give her light,
25. And the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers which are in the heavens will be moved.
26. And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
27. And then he will send out the angels, and will get together his saints from the four winds, from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven.
28. Take an example from the fig-tree: when its branches become soft and put out their leaves, you see that the summer is near;
29. Even so, when you see these things taking place, you may be certain that he is near, even at the doors.
30. Truly, I say to you, This generation will not come to an end till all these things are complete.
31. Heaven and earth will come to an end, but my words will not come to an end.
32. But of that day or that hour no one has knowledge, not even the angels in heaven, or the Son, but the Father.
33. Take care, keep watch with prayer: for you are not certain when the time will be.
34. It is as when a man who is in another country for a time, having gone away from his house, and given authority to his servants and to everyone his work, gives the porter an order to keep watch.
35. So you are to keep watch: because you are not certain when the master of the house is coming, in the evening, or in the middle of the night, or at the cock's cry, or in the morning;
36. For fear that, coming suddenly, he sees you sleeping.
37. And what I say to you, I say to all, Keep watch.