Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Numbers 19 / Basic English

1. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
2. This is the rule of the law which the Lord has made, saying, Give orders to the children of Israel to give you a red cow without any mark on her, and on which the yoke has never been put:
3. Give her to Eleazar the priest and let him take her outside the tent-circle and have her put to death before him.
4. Then let Eleazar the priest take some of her blood on his finger, shaking the blood seven times in the direction of the front of the Tent of meeting:
5. And the cow is to be burned before him, her skin and her flesh and her blood and her waste are to be burned:
6. Then let the priest take cedar-wood and hyssop and red thread, and put them into the fire where the cow is burning.
7. And the priest, after washing his clothing and bathing his body in water, may come back to the tent-circle, and will be unclean till evening.
8. And he who does the burning is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
9. Then let a man who is clean take the dust of the burned cow and put it outside the tent-circle in a clean place, where it is to be kept for the children of Israel and used in making the water which takes away what is unclean: it is a sin-offering.
10. And he who takes up the dust of the burned cow is to have his clothing washed with water and be unclean till evening: this is to be a law for ever, for the children of Israel as well as for the man from another country who is living among them.
11. Anyone touching a dead body will be unclean for seven days:
12. On the third day and on the seventh day he is to make himself clean with the water, and so he will be clean: but if he does not do this on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.
13. Anyone touching the body of a dead man without making himself clean in this way, makes the House of the Lord unclean; and that man will be cut off from Israel: because the water was not put on him, he will be unclean; his unclean condition is unchanged.
14. This is the law when death comes to a man in his tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, will be unclean for seven days.
15. And every open vessel without a cover fixed on it will be unclean.
16. And anyone touching one who has been put to death with the sword in the open country, or the body of one who has come to his end by a natural death, or a man's bone, or the resting-place of a dead body, will be unclean for seven days.
17. And for the unclean, they are to take the dust of the burning of the sin-offering, and put flowing water on it in a vessel:
18. And a clean person is to take hyssop and put it in the water, shaking it over the tent, and all the vessels, and the people who were there, and over him by whom the bone, or the body of one who has been put to death with the sword, or the body of one who has come to his end by a natural death, or the resting-place was touched.
19. Let the clean person do this to the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he is to make him clean; and after washing his clothing and bathing himself in water, he will be clean in the evening.
20. But the man who, being unclean, does not make himself clean in this way, will be cut off from the meeting of the people, because he has made the holy place of the Lord unclean: the water has not been put on him, he is unclean.
21. This is to be a law for them for ever: he who puts the water on the unclean person is to have his clothing washed; and anyone touching the water will be unclean till evening.
22. Anything touched by the unclean person will be unclean; and any person touching it will be unclean till evening.

Numbers 20 / Basic English

1. In the first month all the children of Israel came into the waste land of Zin, and put up their tents in Kadesh; there death came to Miriam, and they put her body to rest in the earth.
2. And there was no water for the people: and they came together against Moses and against Aaron.
3. And the people were angry with Moses and said, If only death had overtaken us when our brothers came to their death before the Lord!
4. Why have you taken the Lord's people into this waste, for death to come to us and to our cattle there?
5. Why have you made us come out of Egypt into this evil place? This is no place of seed or figs or vines or other fruits, and there is no water for drinking.
6. Then Moses and Aaron went away from the people to the door of the Tent of meeting; and, falling on their faces there, they saw the glory of the Lord.
7. And the Lord said to Moses,
8. Take the rod, you and Aaron, your brother, and make all the people come together, and before their eyes give orders to the rock to give out its water; and so make water come out of the rock for them, and give the people and their cattle drink.
9. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he gave him orders.
10. Then Moses and Aaron made the people come together in front of the rock, and he said to them, Give ear now, you people whose hearts are turned from the Lord; are we to get water for you out of the rock?
11. And lifting up his hand, Moses gave the rock two blows with his rod: and water came streaming out, and the people and their cattle had drink enough.
12. Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you had not enough faith in me to keep my name holy before the children of Israel, you will not take this people into the land which I have given them.
13. These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel went against the Lord, and they saw that he was holy among them.
14. Then Moses sent men from Kadesh to the king of Edom to say to him, Your brother Israel says, You have knowledge of all the things we have been through;
15. How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we were living in Egypt for a long time; and the Egyptians were cruel to us and to our fathers:
16. And the Lord gave ear to the voice of our cry, and sent an angel and took us out of Egypt: and now we are in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your land;
17. Let us now go through your land: we will not go into field or vine-garden, or take the water of the springs; we will go by the highway, not turning to the right or to the left, till we have gone past the limits of your land.
18. And Edom said, You are not to go through my land, for if you do I will come out against you with the sword.
19. And the children of Israel said to him, We will go up by the highway: and if we or our cattle take of your water, we will give you a price for it: only let us go through on our feet, nothing more.
20. But he said, You are not to go through. And Edom came out against them in his strength, with a great army.
21. So Edom would not let Israel go through his land; and Israel went in another direction.
22. And they went on from Kadesh, and came, with all their people, to Mount Hor.
23. And at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
24. Aaron will be put to rest with his people; he will not go into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you went against my word at the waters of Meribah.
25. So take Aaron and Eleazar, his son, up into Mount Hor;
26. And take Aaron's robes off him and put them on Eleazar, his son: and death will come to Aaron there, and he will be put to rest with his people.
27. So Moses did as the Lord had said, and before the eyes of all the people they went up Mount Hor.
28. And Moses took off Aaron's robes, and put them on Eleazar, his son; and there on the top of the mountain death came to Aaron: then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
29. And when the people saw that Aaron was dead, all the children of Israel gave themselves up to weeping for him for thirty days.

Psalms 60 / Basic English

1. <To the chief music-maker; put to Shushan-eduth. Michtam. Of David. For teaching. When he was fighting against Aram-naharaim and Aramzobah, when Joab came back, and put twelve thousand of the Edomites to death, in the Valley of Salt.> God, you have put us away from you, you have sent us in all directions, you have been angry; O be turned to us again.
2. By the power of your hand the earth is shaking and broken; make it strong again, for it is moved.
3. You have made the people see hard times; you have given us the wine of shaking for our drink.
4. Give a safe place to those who have fear of you, where they may go in flight from before the bow. (Selah.)
5. So that your loved ones may be made safe, let your right hand be my salvation, and give me an answer.
6. God has said in his holy place, I will be glad: I will make a division of Shechem, and the valley of Succoth will be measured out.
7. Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; and Ephraim is the strength of my head; Judah is my law-giver;
8. Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I put out my shoe; over Philistia will a glad cry be sounded.
9. Who will take me into the strong town? who will be my guide into Edom?
10. Have not you put us away, O God? and you have not gone out with our armies.
11. Give us help in our trouble; for there is no help in man.
12. Through God we will do great things, for through him our haters will be crushed under our feet.

Psalms 61 / Basic English

1. <To the chief music-maker. On a corded instrument. Of David.> Let my cry come to you, O God; let your ears be open to my prayer.
2. From the end of the earth will I send up my cry to you, when my heart is overcome: take me to the rock which is over-high for me.
3. For you have been my secret place, and my high tower from those who made war on me.
4. I will make your tent my resting-place for ever: I will keep myself under the cover of your wings. (Selah.)
5. For you, O God, have made answer to my prayers; you have given me the heritage of those who give honour to your name.
6. You will give the king long life; and make his years go on through the generations.
7. May the seat of his authority be before God for ever; may mercy and righteousness keep him safe.
8. So will I make songs in praise of your name for ever, giving to God that which is right day by day.