Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Genesis 15 / Basic English

1. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Have no fear, Abram: I will keep you safe, and great will be your reward.
2. And Abram said, What will you give me? for I have no child and this Eliezer of Damascus will have all my wealth after me.
3. And Abram said, You have given me no child, and a servant in my house will get the heritage.
4. Then said the Lord, This man will not get the heritage, but a son of your body will have your property after you.
5. And he took him out into the open air, and said to him, Let your eyes be lifted to heaven, and see if the stars may be numbered; even so will your seed be.
6. And he had faith in the Lord, and it was put to his account as righteousness.
7. And he said to him, I am the Lord, who took you from Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land for your heritage.
8. And he said, O Lord God, how may I be certain that it will be mine?
9. And he said, Take a young cow of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a sheep of three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon.
10. All these he took, cutting them in two and putting one half opposite the other, but not cutting the birds in two.
11. And evil birds came down on the bodies, but Abram sent them away.
12. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep came on Abram, and a dark cloud of fear.
13. And he said to Abram, Truly, your seed will be living in a land which is not theirs, as servants to a people who will be cruel to them for four hundred years;
14. But I will be the judge of that nation whose servants they are, and they will come out from among them with great wealth.
15. As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; at the end of a long life you will be put in your last resting-place.
16. And in the fourth generation they will come back here; for at present the sin of the Amorite is not full.
17. Then when the sun went down and it was dark, he saw a smoking fire and a flaming light which went between the parts of the bodies.
18. In that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram, and said, To your seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
19. The Kenite, the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,
20. And the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,
21. And the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.

Genesis 16 / Basic English

1. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had given him no children; and she had a servant, a woman of Egypt whose name was Hagar.
2. And Sarai said to Abram, See, the Lord has not let me have children; go in to my servant, for I may get a family through her. And Abram did as Sarai said.
3. So after Abram had been living for ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian servant, and gave her to Abram for his wife.
4. And he went in to Hagar and she became with child, and when she saw that she was with child, she no longer had any respect for her master's wife.
5. And Sarai said to Abram, May my wrong be on you: I gave you my servant for your wife and when she saw that she was with child, she no longer had any respect for me: may the Lord be judge between you and me.
6. And Abram said, The woman is in your power; do with her whatever seems good to you. And Sarai was cruel to her, so that she went running away from her.
7. And an angel of the Lord came to her by a fountain of water in the waste land, by the fountain on the way to Shur.
8. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from and where are you going? And she said, I am running away from Sarai, my master's wife.
9. And the angel said to her, Go back, and put yourself under her authority.
10. And the angel of the Lord said, Your seed will be greatly increased so that it may not be numbered.
11. And the angel of the Lord said, See, you are with child and will give birth to a son, to whom you will give the name Ishmael, because the ears of the Lord were open to your sorrow.
12. And he will be like a mountain ass among men; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him, and he will keep his place against all his brothers.
13. And to the Lord who was talking with her she gave this name, You are a God who is seen; for she said, Have I not even here in the waste land had a vision of God and am still living?
14. So that fountain was named, Fountain of Life and Vision: it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15. And Hagar gave birth to a child, the son of Abram, to whom Abram gave the name of Ishmael.
16. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.

Genesis 17 / Basic English

1. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord came to him, and said, I am God, Ruler of all; go in my ways and be upright in all things,
2. And I will make an agreement between you and me, and your offspring will be greatly increased.
3. And Abram went down on his face on the earth, and the Lord God went on talking with him, and said,
4. As for me, my agreement is made with you, and you will be the father of nations without end.
5. No longer will your name be Abram, but Abraham, for I have made you the father of a number of nations.
6. I will make you very fertile, so that nations will come from you and kings will be your offspring.
7. And I will make between me and you and your seed after you through all generations, an eternal agreement to be a God to you and to your seed after you.
8. And to you and to your seed after you, I will give the land in which you are living, all the land of Canaan for an eternal heritage; and I will be their God.
9. And God said to Abraham, On your side, you are to keep the agreement, you and your seed after you through all generations.
10. And this is the agreement which you are to keep with me, you and your seed after you: every male among you is to undergo circumcision.
11. In the flesh of your private parts you are to undergo it, as a mark of the agreement between me and you.
12. Every male among you, from one generation to another, is to undergo circumcision when he is eight days old, with every servant whose birth takes place in your house, or for whom you gave money to someone of another country, and not of your seed.
13. He who comes to birth in your house and he who is made yours for a price, all are to undergo circumcision; so that my agreement may be marked in your flesh, an agreement for all time.
14. And any male who does not undergo circumcision will be cut off from his people: my agreement has been broken by him.
15. And God said, As for Sarai, your wife, from now her name will be not Sarai, but Sarah.
16. And I will give her a blessing so that you will have a son by her: truly my blessing will be on her, and she will be the mother of nations: kings of peoples will be her offspring.
17. Then Abraham went down on his face, and laughing, said in his heart, May a man a hundred years old have a child? will Sarah, at ninety years old, give birth?
18. And Abraham said to God, If only Ishmael's life might be your care!
19. And God said, Not so; but Sarah, your wife, will have a son, and you will give him the name Isaac, and I will make my agreement with him for ever and with his seed after him.
20. As for Ishmael, I have given ear to your prayer: truly I have given him my blessing and I will make him fertile and give him great increase; he will be the father of twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation.
21. But my agreement will be with Isaac, to whom Sarah will give birth a year from this time.
22. And having said these words, God went up from Abraham.
23. And Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all whose birth had taken place in his house, and all his servants whom he had made his for a price, every male of his house, and on that very day he gave them circumcision in the flesh of their private parts as God had said to him.
24. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he underwent circumcision.
25. And Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he underwent circumcision.
26. Abraham and Ishmael, his son, underwent circumcision on that very day.
27. And all the men of his house, those whose birth had taken place in the house and those whom he had got for money from men of other lands, underwent circumcision with him.

Matthew 9 / Basic English

1. And he got into a boat and went across and came to his town.
2. And they took to him a man stretched on a bed who had no power of moving; and Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the man who was ill, Son, take heart; you have forgiveness for your sins.
3. And some of the scribes said among themselves, This man has no respect for God.
4. And Jesus, having knowledge of what was in their minds, said, Why are your thoughts evil?
5. For which is the simpler, to say, You have forgiveness for your sins; or to say, Get up and go?
6. But so that you may see that on earth the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins, (then said he to the man who was ill,) Get up, and take up your bed, and go to your house.
7. And he got up and went away to his house.
8. But when the people saw it they were full of fear, and gave glory to God who had given such authority to men.
9. And when Jesus was going from there, he saw a man whose name was Matthew, seated at the place where taxes were taken; and he said to him, Come after me. And he got up and went after him.
10. And it came about, when he was in the house taking food, that a number of tax-farmers and sinners came and took their places with Jesus and his disciples.
11. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why does your Master take food with tax-farmers and sinners?
12. But on hearing this he said, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill.
13. But go and take to heart the sense of these words, My desire is for mercy, not offerings: for I have come not to get the upright, but sinners.
14. Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees frequently go without food, but your disciples do not?
15. And Jesus said to them, Will the friends of the newly-married man be sad as long as he is with them? But the days will come when he will be taken away from them, and then will they go without food.
16. And no man puts a bit of new cloth on an old coat, for by pulling away from the old, it makes a worse hole.
17. And men do not put new wine into old wine-skins; or the skins will be burst and the wine will come out, and the skins are of no more use: but they put new wine into new wine-skins, and so the two will be safe.
18. While he was saying these things to them, there came a ruler and gave him worship, saying, My daughter is even now dead; but come and put your hand on her, and she will come back to life.
19. And Jesus got up and went after him, and so did his disciples.
20. And a woman, who for twelve years had had a flow of blood, came after him, and put her hand on the edge of his robe:
21. Because, she said to herself, if I may but put my hand on his robe, I will be made well.
22. But Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, Daughter, take heart; your faith has made you well. And the woman was made well from that hour.
23. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the players with their instruments and the people making a noise,
24. He said, Make room; for the girl is not dead, but sleeping. And they were laughing at him.
25. But when the people were sent out, he went in and took her by the hand; and the girl got up.
26. And the news of it went out into all that land.
27. And when Jesus went on from there, two blind men came after him, crying out, Have mercy on us, you Son of David.
28. And when he had come into the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, Have you faith that I am able to do this? They said to him, Yes, Lord.
29. Then he put his hand on their eyes, saying, As your faith is, let it be done to you.
30. And their eyes were made open. And Jesus said to them sharply, Let no man have knowledge of it.
31. But they went out and gave news of him in all that land.
32. And while they were going away, there came to him a man without the power of talking, and with an evil spirit.
33. And when the evil spirit had been sent out, the man had the power of talking: and they were all surprised, saying, Such a thing has never been seen in Israel.
34. But the Pharisees said, By the ruler of evil spirits, he sends evil spirits out of men.
35. And Jesus went about all the towns and small places, teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom and making well all sorts of disease and pain.
36. But when he saw all the people he was moved with pity for them, because they were troubled and wandering like sheep without a keeper.
37. Then he said to his disciples, There is much grain but not enough men to get it in.
38. Make prayer, then, to the Lord of the grain-fields, that he may send out workers to get in his grain.