Bible in Basic English
GENESIS, 9
Rainbow
9:1 And God gave his blessing to Noah and his sons, and said, Be fertile, and have increase, and make the earth full.
2 And the fear of you will be strong in every beast of the earth and every bird of the air; everything which goes on the land, and all the fishes of the sea, are given into your hands.
3 Every living and moving thing will be food for you; I give them all to you as before I gave you all green things.
4 But flesh with the life-blood in it you may not take for food.
5 And for your blood, which is your life, will I take payment; from every beast I will take it, and from every man will I take payment for the blood of his brother-man.
6 Whoever takes a man's life, by man will his life be taken; because God made man in his image.
7 And now, be fertile and have increase; have offspring on the earth and become great in number.
9:8 And God said to Noah and to his sons,
9 Truly, I will make my agreement with you and with your seed after you,
10 And with every living thing with you, all birds and cattle and every beast of the earth which comes out of the ark with you.
11 And I will make my agreement with you; never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters; never again will the waters come over all the earth for its destruction.
12 And God said, This is the sign of the agreement which I make between me and you and every living thing with you, for all future generations :
13 I will put my bow in the cloud and it will be for a sign of the agreement between me and the earth.
14 And whenever I make a cloud come over the earth, the bow will be seen in the cloud,
15 And I will keep in mind the agreement between me and you and every living thing; and never again will there be a great flow of waters causing destruction to all flesh.
16 And the bow will be in the cloud, and looking on it, I will keep in mind the eternal agreement between God and every living thing on the earth.
17 And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the agreement which I have made between me and all flesh on the earth.
9:18 And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19 These three were the sons of Noah and from them all the earth was peopled.
9:20 In those days Noah became a farmer, and he made a vine-garden.
21 And he took of the wine of it and was overcome by drink; and he was uncovered in his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father unclothed, and gave news of it to his two brothers outside.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a robe, and putting it on their backs went in with their faces turned away, and put it over their father so that they might not see him unclothed.
24 And, awaking from his wine, Noah saw what his youngest son had done to him, and he said,
25 Cursed be Canaan; let him be a servant of servants to his brothers.
26 And he said, Praise to the Lord, the God of Shem; let Canaan be his servant.
27 May God make Japheth great, and let his living-place be in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.
9:28 And Noah went on living three hundred and fifty years after the great flow of waters;
29 all the years of his life were nine hundred and fifty : and he came to his end.
GENESIS, 10
Generations of the sons of Noah
10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: these are the sons which they had after the great flow of waters
2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras.
3 And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah.
4 And the sons of Javan: Elishah and Tarshish, the Kittim and the Dodanim.
5 From these came the nations of the sea-lands, with their different families and languages.
6 And the sons of Ham: Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.
7 And the sons of Cush: Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
8 And Cush was the father of Nimrod, who was the first of the great men of the earth.
9 He was a very great bowman, so that there is a saying, Like Nimrod, a very great bowman.
10 And at the first, his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11 From that land he went out into Assyria, building Nineveh with its wide streets and Calah,
12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah, which is a very great town.
13 And Mizraim was the father of the Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim;
14 And Pathrusim and Casluhim and Caphtorim, from whom came the Philistines.
15 And Canaan was the father of Zidon, who was his oldest son, and Heth,
16 And the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite,
17 And the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite,
18 And the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; after that the families of the Canaanites went far and wide in all directions;
19 Their country stretching from Zidon to Gaza, in the direction of Gerar; and to Lasha, in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim.
20 All these, with their different families, languages, lands, and nations, are the offspring of Ham.
21 And Shem, the older brother of Japheth, the father of the children of Eber, had other sons in addition.
22 These are the sons of Shem: Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram.
23 And the sons of Aram: Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash.
24 And Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber.
25 And Eber had two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, because in his time the peoples of the earth became separate; and his brother's name was Joktan.
26 And Joktan was the father of Almodad and Sheleph and Hazarmaveth and Jerah
27 And Hadoram and Uzal and Diklah
28 And Obal and Abimael and Sheba
29 And Ophir and Havilah and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.
30 And their country was from Mesha, in the direction of Sephar, the mountain of the east.
31 These, with their families and their languages and their lands and their nations, are the offspring of Shem.
32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, in the order of their generations and their nations: from these came all the nations of the earth after the great flow of waters.
GENESIS, 11
Tower of Babel
11:1 And all the earth had one language and one tongue.
2 And it came about that in their wandering from the east, they came to a stretch of flat country in the land of Shinar, and there they made their living-place.
3 And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth.
4 And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.
5 And the Lord came down to see the town and the tower which the children of men were building.
6 And the Lord said, See, they are all one people and have all one language; and this is only the start of what they may do: and now it will not be possible to keep them from any purpose of theirs.
7 Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.
8 So the Lord God sent them away into every part of the earth: and they gave up building their town.
9 So it was named Babel, because there the Lord took away the sense of all languages and from there the Lord sent them away over all the face of the earth.
11:10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the great flow of waters;
11 And after the birth of Arpachshad, Shem went on living for five hundred years, and had sons and daughters:
12 And Arpachshad was thirty-five years old when he became the father of Shelah:
13 And after the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:
14 And Shelah was thirty years old when he became the father of Eber:
15 And after the birth of Eber, Shelah went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:
16 And Eber was thirty-four years old when he became the father of Peleg:
17 And after the birth of Peleg, Eber went on living for four hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters:
18 And Peleg was thirty years old when he became the father of Reu:
19 And after the birth of Reu, Peleg went on living for two hundred and nine years, and had sons and daughters:
20 And Reu was thirty-two years old when he became the father of Serug:
21 And after the birth of Serug, Reu went on living for two hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters:
22 And Serug was thirty years old when he became the father of Nahor:
23 And after the birth of Nahor, Serug went on living for two hundred years, and had sons and daughters:
24 And Nahor was twenty-nine years old when he became the father of Terah:
25 And after the birth of Terah, Nahor went on living for a hundred and nineteen years, and had sons and daughters:
26 And Terah was seventy years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27 These are the generations of Terah : Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.
28 And death came to Haran when he was with his father Terah in the land of his birth, Ur of the Chaldees.
29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.
30 And Sarai had no child.
31 And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram and they went out from Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and were there for some time.
32 And all the years of Terah's life were two hundred and five: and Terah came to his end in Haran.
GENESIS, 12
Abram
12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, Go out from your country and from your family and from your father's house, into the land to which I will be your guide:
2 And I will make of you a great nation, blessing you and making your name great; and you will be a blessing:
3 To them who are good to you will I give blessing, and on him who does you wrong will I put my curse: and you will become a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.
12:4 So Abram went as the Lord had said to him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went away from Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their goods and the servants which they had got in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan.
6 And Abram went through the land till he came to Shechem, to the holy tree of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were still living in the land.
7 And the Lord came to Abram, and said, I will give all this land to your seed; then Abram made an altar there to the Lord who had let himself be seen by him.
8 And moving on from there to the mountain on the east of Beth-el, he put up his tent, having Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east: and there he made an altar and gave worship to the name of the Lord.
9 And he went on, journeying still to the South.
12:10 And because there was little food to be had in that land, he went down into Egypt.
11 Now when he came near to Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, Truly, you are a fair woman and beautiful to the eye;
12 And I am certain that when the men of Egypt see you, they will say, This is his wife: and they will put me to death and keep you.
13 Say, then, that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account.
14 And so it was that when Abram came into Egypt, the men of Egypt, looking on the woman, saw that she was fair.
15 And Pharaoh's great men, having seen her, said words in praise of her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16 And because of her, he was good to Abram, and he had sheep and oxen and asses, and men-servants and women-servants, and camels.
12:17 And the Lord sent great troubles on Pharaoh's house because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
18 Then Pharaoh sent for Abram, and said, What have you done to me? why did you not say that she was your wife?
19 Why did you say that she was your sister? so that I took her for my wife: now, take your wife and go on your way.
20 And Pharaoh gave orders to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all he had.
GENESIS, 13
Abram and Lot are parted
13:1 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.
13:8 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.
13:14 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
Kings battle
14:1 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.
14:13 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.
14:17 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.
GENESIS, 15
Abram's vision
15:1 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.
15:7 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.
15:12 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.
15:17 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
Hagar gave birth to Ishmael
16:1 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.
16:7 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.
16:15 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.
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