Bible in Basic English
Some chapters of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible

Old Testament
Genesis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1920 2122 2324 25 26 2728 2930
3132 33 34 3536 3738 3940 41 42 4344 4546 4748 4950
Exodus 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1920 2122 2324 25 26 2728 2930
3132 33 34 3536 3738 3940
Leviticus 1 2 34 56 78 910. .27
Numbers 1 2 34 56 7. .36
Deutoronomy 1 2 34 56 7. .34
Joshua 1 2 34 56 7. .24
Judges 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. .21
Ruth 1 2 34
1 Samuel1. .31
2 Samuel1. .24
1 Kings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1718 1920 2122
2 Kings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1718 1920 2123 2425
. . .
Job 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 1516 1718 1920 21 22 2324 2526 2728 2930
3132 3334 3536 3738 3940 4142
Psalms 1 2 3 4 5 6 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 23 29 43 75 76 84 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
100 101 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 123 131 133 134 139 145 146 149 150
Proverbs1. .31
Ecclesiastes12 3 4 56 789101112
Song of Solomon 1 2 34 56 78
. . .
Joel1 23
Amos1 23 45 67 89
Obadiah1
Jonah 1 2 34
Micah 1 2 34 56 7
Nahum1 23
Habakkuk1 23
Zephaniah1 23
Haggai1 2
Zechariah1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Malachi1 23 4
THE BIBLE in BASIC ENGLISH   Cambridge University Press.
NOTE    
    The form in which the Bible is given here is not simply another example of the Bible story put into present-day English. The languaged used is Basic English.1
    Basic English, produced by C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute in England, is a simple form of the English language which, with 850 words,2 is able to give the sense of anything which may be said in English.
    Working with the Orthological Institute, a Committee under the direction of Profesor S. H., Hooke, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Studies in the University of London, was responsible for a new English form of the Bible made from the Hebrew and the Greek.
    In this undertaking, the latest ideas and discoveries in connection with the work of putting the Bible into other languages were taken into acount, and when the Basic form was complete it was gone over in detail by a Committee formed by the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press.
    The Basic Bible, which in this way was watched over by two separate groups of experts through its different stages, is designed to be used wherever the English language has taken root.
    Frequently, the narrow limits of the word-list made it hard to keep the Basic completely parallel with the Hebrew and the Greek ; but great trouble was taken with every verse and every line to make certain that there are no errors of sense and no loose wording. It is only natural that, from time to time, some of the more delicate shades of sense were not covered ; on the other hand, it is well to keep in mind that in the Authorised (King James) Version the power and music of the language sometimes take so much of the reader's attention that these more delicate shades are overlooked.
    In fact, the Basic expert is forced, because of the limited material with which he is working, to give special care to the sense of the words before him. There is no question of the Basic work taking the place of the Authorised Version or coming into competition with it ; but it may be said of the Basic English Bible that it is in a marked degreee straightforward and simple and that these qualities give it an independent value.
Back to : Ogden's Basic English