Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

Deuteronomy 2 / Basic English

1. Then we went back, journeying into the waste land by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord had said to me: and we were a long time going round Mount Seir.
2. And the Lord said to me,
3. You have been journeying round this mountain long enough: now go to the north;
4. And give the people orders, saying, You are about to go through the land of your brothers, the children of Esau, who are living in Seir; and they will have fear of you; so take care what you do:
5. Make no attack on them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even space enough for a man's foot: because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for his heritage.
6. You may get food for your needs from them for a price, and water for drinking.
7. For the blessing of the Lord your God has been on you in all the work of your hands: he has knowledge of your wanderings through this great waste: these forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have been short of nothing.
8. So we went on past our brothers, the children of Esau, living in Seir, by the road through the Arabah, from Elath and Ezion-geber. And turning, we went by the road through the waste land of Moab.
9. And the Lord said to me, Make no attack on Moab and do not go to war with them, for I will not give you any of his land: because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for their heritage.
10. (In the past the Emim were living there; a great people, equal in numbers to the Anakim and as tall;
11. They are numbered among the Rephaim, like the Anakim; but are named Emim by the Moabites.
12. And the Horites in earlier times were living in Seir, but the children of Esau took their place; they sent destruction on them and took their land for themselves, as Israel did to the land of his heritage which the Lord gave them.)
13. Get up now, and go over the stream Zered. So we went over the stream Zered.
14. Thirty-eight years had gone by from the time when we came away from Kadesh-barnea till we went over the stream Zered; by that time all the generation of the men of war among us were dead, as the Lord had said.
15. For the hand of the Lord was against them, working their destruction, till all were dead.
16. So when death had overtaken all the men of war among the people,
17. The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
18. You are about to go by Ar, the limit of the country of Moab;
19. And when you come near the land of the children of Ammon, give them no cause of trouble and do not make war on them, for I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for your heritage: because I have given it to the children of Lot.
20. (That land is said to have been a land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim had been living there in earlier times, but they were named Zamzummim by the Ammonites;
21. They were a great people, tall as the Anakim, and equal to them in number; but the Lord sent destruction on them and the children of Ammon took their place, living in their land;
22. As he did for the children of Esau living in Seir, when he sent destruction on the Horites before them, and they took their land where they are living to this day:
23. And the Avvim, living in the small towns as far as Gaza, came to destruction by the hands of the Caphtorim who came out from Caphtor and took their land.)
24. Get up now, and go on your journey, crossing over the valley of the Arnon: see, I have given into your hands Sihon, the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and all his land: go forward to make it yours, and make war on him,
25. From now on I will put the fear of you in all peoples under heaven, who, hearing of you, will be shaking with fear and grief of heart because of you.
26. Then from the waste land of Kedemoth I sent representatives to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,
27. Let me go through your land: I will keep to the highway, not turning to the right or to the left;
28. Let me have food, at a price, for my needs, and water for drinking: only let me go through on foot;
29. As the children of Esau did for me in Seir and the Moabites in Ar; till I have gone over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving us.
30. But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not let us go through; for the Lord your God made his spirit hard and his heart strong, so that he might give him up into your hands as at this day.
31. And the Lord said to me, See, from now on I have given Sihon and his land into your hands: go forward now to take his land and make it yours.
32. Then Sihon came out against us with all his people, to make an attack on us at Jahaz.
33. And the Lord our God gave him into our hands; and we overcame him and his sons and all his people.
34. At that time we took all his towns, and gave them over to complete destruction, together with men, women, and children; we had no mercy on any:
35. Only the cattle we took for ourselves, with the goods from the towns we had taken.
36. From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon and from the town in the valley as far as Gilead, no town was strong enough to keep us out; the Lord our God gave them all into our hands:
37. But you did not go near the land of the children of Ammon, that is, all the side of the river Jabbok or the towns of the hill-country, wherever the Lord our God had said we were not to go.

Deuteronomy 3 / Basic English

1. Then turning we took the road to Bashan: and Og, king of Bashan, came out against us with all his people, and made an attack on us at Edrei.
2. And the Lord said to me, Have no fear of him: for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hands; do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon.
3. So the Lord our God gave up Og, king of Bashan, and all his people into our hands; and we overcame him so completely that all his people came to their end in the fight.
4. At that time we took all his towns; there was not one town of the sixty towns, all the country of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which we did not take.
5. All these towns had high walls round them with doors and locks; and in addition we took a great number of unwalled towns.
6. And we put them to the curse, every town together with men, women, and children.
7. But we took for ourselves all the cattle and the stored wealth of the towns.
8. At that time we took their land from the two kings of the Amorites on the far side of Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon;
9. (By the Sidonians, Hermon is named Sirion, and by the Amorites Shenir;)
10. All the towns of the table-land and all Gilead and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
11. (For Og, king of Bashan, was the last of all the Rephaim; his bed was made of iron; is it not in Rabbah, in the land of the children of Ammon? It was nine cubits long and four cubits wide, measured by the common cubit.)
12. And this land which we took at that time, from Aroer by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill-country of Gilead with its towns, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites.
13. The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, all the land of Argob, together with Bashan, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (This land is named the land of the Rephaim.
14. Jair, the son of Manasseh, took all the land of Argob, as far as the country of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, naming it, Bashan, Havvoth-Jair after himself, as it is to this day.)
15. And Gilead I gave to Machir.
16. And the land from Gilead to the valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as a limit, as far as the river Jabbok which is the limit of the country of the children of Ammon, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites;
17. As well as the Arabah, with the river Jordan as their limit, from Chinnereth to the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah to the east.
18. At that time I gave you orders, saying, The Lord has given you this land for your heritage: all the men of war are to go over armed before your brothers the children of Israel.
19. But your wives and your little ones and your cattle (for it is clear that you have much cattle) may go on living in the towns I have given you;
20. Till the Lord has given rest to your brothers as to you, and till they have taken for themselves the land which the Lord your God is giving them on the other side of Jordan: then you may go back, every man of you, to the heritage which I have given you.
21. And I gave orders to Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen what the Lord your God has done to these two kings: so will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you come.
22. Have no fear of them, for the Lord your God will be fighting for you.
23. And at that time I made request to the Lord, saying,
24. O Lord God, you have now for the first time let your servant see your great power and the strength of your hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth able to do such great works and such acts of power?
25. Let me go over, O Lord, and see the good land on the other side of Jordan, and that fair mountain country, even Lebanon.
26. But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not give ear to my prayer; and the Lord said to me, Let it be enough, say no more about this thing.
27. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and turning your eyes to the west and the north, to the south and the east, see the land with your eyes: for you are not to go over Jordan.
28. But give my orders to Joshua, comforting him and making him strong; for he is to go over Jordan at the head of this people, and he will give them this land which you will see for their heritage.
29. So we were waiting in the valley facing Beth-peor.

Psalms 77 / Basic English

1. <To the chief music-maker. After Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.> I was crying to God with my voice; even to God with my voice, and he gave ear to me.
2. In the day of my trouble, my heart was turned to the Lord: my hand was stretched out in the night without resting; my soul would not be comforted.
3. I will keep God in memory, with sounds of grief; my thoughts are troubled, and my spirit is overcome. (Selah.)
4. You keep my eyes from sleep; I am so troubled that no words come.
5. My thoughts go back to the days of the past, to the years which are gone.
6. The memory of my song comes back to me in the night; my thoughts are moving in my heart; my spirit is searching with care.
7. Will the Lord put me away for ever? will he be kind no longer?
8. Is his mercy quite gone for ever? has his word come to nothing?
9. Has God put away the memory of his pity? are his mercies shut up by his wrath? (Selah.)
10. And I said, It is a weight on my spirit; but I will keep in mind the years of the right hand of the Most High.
11. I will keep in mind the works of Jah: I will keep the memory of your wonders in the past.
12. I will give thought to all your work, while my mind goes over your acts of power.
13. Your way, O God, is holy: what god is so great as our God?
14. You are the God who does works of power: you have made your strength clear to the nations.
15. With your arm you have made your people free, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. (Selah.)
16. The waters saw you, O God; the waters saw you, they were in fear: even the deep was troubled.
17. The clouds sent out water; the skies gave out a sound; truly, your arrows went far and wide.
18. The voice of your thunder went rolling on; the world was flaming with the light of the storm; the earth was shaking.
19. Your way was in the sea, and your road in the great waters; there was no knowledge of your footsteps.
20. You were guiding your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.