Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Numbers 12 / Basic English

1. Now Miriam and Aaron said evil against Moses, because of the Cushite woman to whom he was married, for he had taken a Cushite woman as his wife.
2. And they said, Have the words of the Lord been given to Moses only? have they not come to us? And the Lord took note of it.
3. Now the man Moses was more gentle than any other man on earth.
4. And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the Tent of meeting. And the three of them went out.
5. And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, taking his place at the door of the Tent, and made Aaron and Miriam come before him.
6. And he said, Now give ear to my words: if there is a prophet among you I will give him knowledge of myself in a vision and will let my words come to him in a dream.
7. My servant Moses is not so; he is true to me in all my house:
8. With him I will have talk mouth to mouth, openly and not in dark sayings; and with his eyes he will see the form of the Lord: why then had you no fear of saying evil against my servant Moses?
9. And burning with wrath against them, the Lord went away.
10. And the cloud was moved from over the Tent; and straight away Miriam became a leper, as white as snow: and Aaron, looking at Miriam, saw that she was a leper.
11. Then Aaron said to Moses, O my lord, let not our sin be on our heads, for we have done foolishly and are sinners.
12. Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half wasted when he comes out from the body of his mother.
13. And Moses, crying to the Lord, said, Let my prayer come before you, O God, and make her well.
14. And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had put a mark of shame on her, would she not be shamed for seven days? Let her be shut up outside the tent-circle for seven days, and after that she may come in again.
15. So Miriam was shut up outside the tent-circle for seven days: and the people did not go forward on their journey till Miriam had come in again.
16. After that, the people went on from Hazeroth and put up their tents in the waste land of Paran.

Numbers 13 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses,
2. Send men to get knowledge about the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from every tribe of their fathers you are to send a man, every one a chief among them.
3. And Moses sent them from the waste land of Paran as the Lord gave orders, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.
4. And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua, the son of Zaccur.
5. Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat, the son of Hori.
6. Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb, the son of Jephunneh.
7. Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal, the son of Joseph.
8. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea, the son of Nun.
9. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti, the son of Raphu.
10. Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel, the son of Sodi.
11. Of the tribe of Joseph, that is of the family of Manasseh, Gaddi, the son of Susi.
12. Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel, the son of Gemalli.
13. Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur, the son of Michael
14. Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi, the son of Vophsi.
15. Of the tribe of Gad, Gevel, the son of Machi.
16. These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to get knowledge about the land. And Moses gave to Hoshea, the son of Nun, the name of Joshua.
17. So Moses sent them to have a look at the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up into the South and into the hill-country;
18. And see what the land is like; and if the people living in it are strong or feeble, small or great in number;
19. And what sort of land they are living in, if it is good or bad; and what their living-places are, tent-circles or walled towns;
20. And if the land is fertile or poor, and if there is wood in it or not. And be of good heart, and come back with some of the produce of the land. Now it was the time when the first grapes were ready.
21. So they went up and got a view of the land, from the waste land of Zin to Rehob, on the way to Hamath.
22. They went up into the South and came to Hebron; and Ahiman and Sheshai and Talmai, the children of Anak, were living there. (Now the building of Hebron took place seven years before that of Zoan in Egypt.)
23. And they came to the valley of Eshcol, and cutting down a vine-branch with its grapes, two of them took it on a rod between them; and they took some pomegranates and figs.
24. That place was named the valley of Eshcol because of the grapes which the children of Israel took from there.
25. At the end of forty days they came back from viewing the land.
26. And they came back to Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel, to Kadesh in the waste land of Paran; and gave an account to them and to all the people and let them see the produce of the land.
27. And they said, We came to the land where you sent us, and truly it is flowing with milk and honey: and here is some of the produce of it.
28. But the people living in the land are strong, and the towns are walled and very great; further, we saw the children of Anak there.
29. And the Amalekites are in the South; and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill-country; and the Canaanites by the sea and by the side of Jordan.
30. Then Caleb made signs to the people to keep quiet, and said to Moses, Let us go up straight away and take this land; for we are well able to overcome it.
31. But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.
32. And they gave the children of Israel a bad account of the land they had been to see, saying, This land through which we went is a land causing destruction to those living in it; and all the people we saw there are men of more than common size.
33. There we saw those great men, the sons of Anak, offspring of the Nephilim: and we seemed to ourselves no more than insects, and so we seemed to them.

Psalms 51 / Basic English

1. <To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.> Have pity on me, O God, in your mercy; out of a full heart, take away my sin.
2. Let all my wrongdoing be washed away, and make me clean from evil.
3. For I am conscious of my error; my sin is ever before me.
4. Against you, you only, have I done wrong, working that which is evil in your eyes; so that your words may be seen to be right, and you may be clear when you are judging.
5. Truly, I was formed in evil, and in sin did my mother give me birth.
6. Your desire is for what is true in the inner parts: in the secrets of my soul you will give me knowledge of wisdom.
7. Make me free from sin with hyssop: let me be washed whiter than snow.
8. Make me full of joy and rapture; so that the bones which have been broken may be glad.
9. Let your face be turned from my wrongdoing, and take away all my sins.
10. Make a clean heart in me, O God; give me a right spirit again.
11. Do not put me away from before you, or take your holy spirit from me.
12. Give me back the joy of your salvation; let a free spirit be my support.
13. Then will I make your ways clear to wrongdoers; and sinners will be turned to you.
14. Be my saviour from violent death, O God, the God of my salvation; and my tongue will give praise to your righteousness.
15. O Lord, let my lips be open, so that my mouth may make clear your praise.
16. You have no desire for an offering or I would give it; you have no delight in burned offerings.
17. The offerings of God are a broken spirit; a broken and sorrowing heart, O God, you will not put from you.
18. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure, building up the walls of Jerusalem.
19. Then you will have delight in the offerings of righteousness, in burned offerings and offerings of beasts; then they will make offerings of oxen on your altar.