Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 13 / Basic English

1. And Abram went up out of Egypt with his wife and all he had, and Lot with him, and they came in to the South.
2. Now Abram had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.
3. And travelling on from the South, he came to Beth-el, to the place where his tent had been before, between Beth-el and Ai;
4. To the place where he had made his first altar, and there Abram gave worship to the name of the Lord.
5. And Lot, who went with him, had flocks and herds and tents;
6. So that the land was not wide enough for the two of them: their property was so great that there was not room for them together.
7. And there was an argument between the keepers of Abram's cattle and the keepers of Lot's cattle: at that time the Canaanites and Perizzites were still living in the land.
8. Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdmen and your herdmen, for we are brothers.
9. Is not all the land before you? then let us go our separate ways: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you take the right, I will go to the left.
10. And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking an the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, on the way to Zoar.
11. So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another.
12. Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom.
13. Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.
14. And the Lord had said to Abram, after Lot was parted from him, From this place where you are take a look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west:
15. For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed for ever.
16. And I will make your children like the dust of the earth, so that if the dust of the earth may be numbered, then will your children be numbered.
17. Come, go through all the land from one end to the other for I will give it to you.
18. And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.

Genesis 14 / Basic English

1. Now in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim,
2. They made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (which is Zoar).
3. All these came together in the valley of Siddim (which is the Salt Sea).
4. For twelve years they were under the rule of Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they put off his control.
5. And in the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings who were on his side, overcame the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
6. And the Horites in their mountain Seir, driving them as far as El-paran, which is near the waste land.
7. Then they came back to En-mishpat (which is Kadesh), making waste all the country of the Amalekites and of the Amorites living in Hazazon-tamar.
8. And the king of Sodom with the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is Zoar), went out, and put their forces in position in the valley of Siddim,
9. Against Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar: four kings against the five.
10. Now the valley of Siddim was full of holes of sticky earth; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were put to flight and came to their end there, but the rest got away to the mountain.
11. And the four kings took all the goods and food from Sodom and Gomorrah and went on their way.
12. And in addition they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who was living in Sodom, and all his goods.
13. And one who had got away from the fight came and gave word of it to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the holy tree of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were friends of Abram.
14. And Abram, hearing that his brother's son had been made a prisoner, took a band of his trained men, three hundred and eighteen of them, sons of his house, and went after them as far as Dan.
15. And separating his forces by night, he overcame them, putting them to flight and going after them as far as Hobah, which is on the north side of Damascus.
16. And he got back all the goods, and Lot, his brother's son, with his goods and the women and the people.
17. And when he was coming back after putting to flight Chedorlaomer and the other kings, he had a meeting with the king of Sodom in the valley of Shaveh, that is, the King's Valley.
18. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, the priest of the Most High God, took bread and wine,
19. And blessing him, said, May the blessing of the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth, be on Abram:
20. And let the Most High God be praised, who has given into your hands those who were against you. Then Abram gave him a tenth of all the goods he had taken.
21. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the prisoners and take the goods for yourself.
22. But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have taken an oath to the Lord, the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth,
23. That I will not take so much as a thread or the cord of a shoe of yours; so that you may not say, I have given wealth to Abram:
24. Give me nothing but the food which the fighting-men who went with me have had; but let Aner and Eshcol and Mamre have their part of the goods.

Matthew 8 / Basic English

1. And when he had come down from the mountain, great numbers of people came after him.
2. And a leper came and gave him worship, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.
3. And he put his hand on him, saying, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away he was made clean.
4. And Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing about this to anyone; but go and let the priest see you and make the offering which was ordered by Moses, for a witness to them.
5. And when Jesus was come into Capernaum, a certain captain came to him with a request,
6. Saying, Lord, my servant is ill in bed at the house, with no power in his body, and in great pain.
7. And he said to him, I will come and make him well.
8. And the captain in answer said, Lord, I am not good enough for you to come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be made well.
9. Because I myself am a man under authority, having under me fighting men; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.
10. And when these words came to the ears of Jesus he was surprised, and said to those who came after him, Truly I say to you, I have not seen such great faith, no, not in Israel.
11. And I say to you that numbers will come from the east and the west, and will take their seats with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:
12. But the sons of the kingdom will be put out into the dark, and there will be weeping and cries of pain.
13. And Jesus said to the captain, Go in peace; as your faith is, so let it be done to you. And the servant was made well in that hour.
14. And when Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother in bed, very ill.
15. And he put his hand on hers and the disease went from her, and she got up and took care of his needs.
16. And in the evening, they took to him a number of people who had evil spirits; and he sent the spirits out of them with a word, and made well all who were ill;
17. So that the word of Isaiah the prophet might come true: He himself took our pains and our diseases.
18. Now when Jesus saw a great mass of people about him, he gave an order to go to the other side.
19. And there came a scribe and said to him, Master, I will come after you wherever you go.
20. And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have a resting-place; but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head.
21. And another of the disciples said to him, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father.
22. But Jesus said to him, Come after me; and let the dead take care of their dead.
23. And when he had got into a boat, his disciples went after him.
24. And there came up a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was sleeping.
25. And they came to him, and, awaking him, said, Help, Lord; destruction is near.
26. And he said to them, Why are you full of fear, O you of little faith? Then he got up and gave orders to the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27. And the men were full of wonder, saying, What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea do his orders?
28. And when he had come to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, there came out to him from the place of the dead, two who had evil spirits, so violent that no man was able to go that way.
29. And they gave a loud cry, saying, What have we to do with you, you Son of God? Have you come here to give us punishment before the time?
30. Now there was, some distance away, a great herd of pigs taking their food.
31. And the evil spirits made strong prayers to him, saying, If you send us out, let us go into the herd of pigs.
32. And he said to them, Go. And they came out, and went into the pigs; and the herd went rushing down a sharp slope into the sea and came to their end in the water.
33. And their keepers went in flight to the town and gave an account of everything, and of the men who had the evil spirits.
34. And all the town came out to Jesus; and seeing him they made request that he would go away from their part of the country.