Bible in Basic English
John, 1
1:1 FROM the first he was the Word, and the Word was in relation with God and was God.
2 This Word was from the first in relation with God.
3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.
4 What came into existence in him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light goes on shining in the dark; it is not overcome by the dark.
1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came for witness, to give witness about the light, so that all men might have faith through him.
8 He himself was not the light : he was sent to give witness about the light.
1:9 The true light, which gives light to every man, was then coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, the world which came into being through him, but the world had no knowledge of him.
11 He came to the things which were his and his people did not take him to their hearts.
12 To all those who did so take him, however, he gave the right of becoming children of God--that is, to those who had faith in his name:
13 Whose birth was from God and not from blood, or from an impulse of the flesh and man's desire.
1:14 And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
15 John gave witness about him, crying, This is he of whom I said, He who is coming after me is put over me because he was in existence before me.
16 From his full measure we have all been given grace on grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and the true way of life are ours through Jesus Christ.
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
1:19 And this is the witness of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him with the question, Who are you ?
20 He said quite openly and straightforwardly, I am not the Christ.
21 And they said to him, What then ? Are you Elijah ? And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet ? And his answer was, I am not.
22 So they said to him, Who are you then ? We have to give some answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself ?
23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the waste land, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.
24 Those who had been sent came from the Pharisees.
1:25 And they put this question to him, saying, Why then are you giving baptism if you are not the Christ, or Elijah, or the prophet ?
26 John's answer was : I give baptism with water; but there is one among you of whom you have no knowledge;
27 It is he who is coming after me; I am not good enough to undo his shoes.
28 These things took place at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was giving baptism.
1:29 The day after, John sees Jesus coming to him and says, See, here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world !
30 This is he of whom I said, One is coming after me who is put over me because he was in existence before me.
31 I myself had no knowledge of him, but I came giving baptism with water so that he might be seen openly by Israel.
32 And John gave this witness, saying, I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and resting on him.
33 I had no knowledge who he was, but he who sent me to give baptism with water said to me, The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting, it is he who gives baptism with the Holy Spirit.
34 This I saw myself and my witness is that he is the Son of God.
1:35 The day after, John was there again with two of his disciples;
36 And looking at Jesus while he was walking he said, See, there is the Lamb of God !
37 Hearing what he said, the two disciples went after Jesus.
38 And Jesus, turning round, saw them coming after him and said to them, What are you looking for ? They said to him, Rabbi (which is to say, Master), where are you living ?
39 He said to them, Come and see. They went with him then and saw where he was living; and they were with him all that day : it was then about the tenth hour of the day.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two men who, hearing what John said, went after Jesus.
41 Early in the morning he came across his brother and said to him, We have made discovery ! It is the Messiah ! (which is to say, the Christ).
42 And he took him to Jesus. Looking at him fixedly Jesus said, You are Simon, the son of John; your name will be Cephas (which is to say, Peter).
1:43 The day after this, Jesus had a desire to go into Galilee. He came across Philip and said to him, Come and be my disciple.
44 Now Philip's town was Beth-saida, where Andrew and Peter came from.
45 Philip came across Nathanael and said to him, We have made a discovery ! It is he of whom Moses, in the law, and the prophets were writing, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
46 Nazareth ! said Nathanael, Is it possible for any good to come out of Nazareth ? Philip said to him, Come and see.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, See, here is a true son of Israel in whom there is nothing false.
48 Nathanael said to him, Where did you get knowledge of me ? In answer Jesus said, Before Philip was talking with you, while you were still under the fig-tree, I saw you.
49 Nathanael said to him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are King of Israel !
50 In answer Jesus said to him, You have faith because I said to you, I saw you under the fig-tree. You will see greater things than these.
51 And he said to him, Truly I say to you all, You will see heaven opening and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of man.
John, 2
2:1 On the third day two people were going to be married at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there:
2 And Jesus with his disciples came as guests.
3 When they had not enough wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine.
4 Jesus said to her, Woman, this is not your business; my time is still to come.
5 His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it.
6 Now six pots of stone, every one taking two or three firkins of water, were placed there for the purpose of washing, as is the way of the Jews.
7 Jesus said to the servants, Make the pots full of water. And they made them full to the top.
8 Then he said to them, Now take some, and give it to the master of the feast. So they took it to him.
9 After tasting the water which had now become wine, the master of the feast (having no idea where it came from, though it was clear to the servants who took the water out) sent for the newly-married man,
10 And said to him, Every man first puts out his best wine and when all have had enough he puts out what is not so good; but you have kept the good wine till now.
11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and let his glory be seen openly; and his disciples put their faith in him.
2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they were there not more than two or three days.
2:13 The time of the Passover of the Jews was near and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 And there in the Temple he saw men trading in oxen and sheep and doves, and he saw the changers of money in their seats:
15 And he made a whip of small cords and put them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and the oxen, sending in all directions the small money of the changers and overturning their tables;
16 And to those who were trading in doves he said, Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a market.
17 And it came to the minds of the disciples that the Writings say, I am on fire with passion for your house.
18 Then the Jews put this question to him : What sign of authority have you to give us, seeing that you do these things ?
19 And Jesus said to them, Send destruction on this Temple and I will put it up again in three days.
20 The Jews said, The building of this Temple took forty-six years; and you will put it up in three days !
21 But his words were about that holy building which was his body.
22 So when he had come back again from the dead, the memory of these words came back to the disciples, and they had faith in the holy Writings and in the word which Jesus had said.
2:23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, a great number of people came to have faith in his name, after seeing the signs which he did.
24 But Jesus did not have faith in them, because he had knowledge of them all.
25 He had no need for any witness about man; for he himself had knowledge of what was in man.
John, 3
3:1 Now there was among the Pharisees a man named Nicodemus, who was one of the rulers of the Jews.
2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we are certain that you have come from God as a teacher, because no man would be able to do these signs which you do if God was not with him.
3 Jesus said to him, Truly, I say to you, Without a new birth no man is able to see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus said to him, How is it possible for a man to be given birth when he is old ? Is he able to go into his mother's body a second time and come to birth again ?
5 Jesus said in answer, Truly, I say to you, If a man's birth is not from water and from the Spirit, it is not possible for him to go into the kingdom of God.
6 That which has birth from the flesh is flesh, and that which has birth from the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be surprised that I say to you, It is necessary for you to have a second birth.
8 The wind goes where its pleasure takes it, and the sound of it comes to your ears, but you are unable to say where it comes from and where it goes : so it is with everyone whose birth is from the Spirit.
9 And Nicodemus said to him, How is it possible for these things to be ?
10 And Jesus, answering, said, Are you the teacher of Israel and have no knowledge of these things ?
11 Truly, I say to you, We say that of which we have knowledge; we give witness of what we have seen; and you do not take our witness to be true.
12 If you have no belief when my words are about the things of earth, how will you have belief if my words are about the things of heaven ?
13 And no one has ever gone up to heaven but he who came down from heaven, the Son of man.
14 As the snake was lifted up by Moses in the waste land, even so it is necessary for the Son of man to be lifted up:
15 So that whoever has faith may have in him eternal life.
3:16 For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life.
17 God did not send his Son into the world to be judge of the world; he sent him so that the world might have salvation through him.
18 The man who has faith in him does not come up to be judged; but he who has no faith in him has been judged even now, because he has no faith in the name of the only Son of God.
19 And this is the test by which men are judged : the light has come into the world and men have more love for the dark than for the light, because their acts are evil.
20 The light is hated by everyone whose acts are evil and he does not come to the light for fear that his acts will be seen.
21 But he whose life is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his acts have been done by the help of God.
3:22 After these things Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judaea, and there he was with them for some time, giving baptism.
23 Now John was then giving baptism at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people came and were given baptism.
24 For at this time John had not been put into prison.
3:25 Then a question came up between John's disciples and a Jew about washing.
26 And they went to John and said to him, Rabbi, the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, the man to whom you gave witness, is now giving baptism, and everyone is going to him.
27 And this was John's answer : A man is unable to have anything if it is not given to him from heaven.
28 You yourselves give witness that I said, I am not the Christ. What I said was, I am sent before the Christ.
29 He who has the bride is the husband : but the husband's friend, whose place is by his side and whose ears are open to him, is full of joy because of the husband's voice : such is my joy, and it is complete.
30 He has to become greater while I become less.
31 He who comes from heaven is greater than all others : he who comes from earth is of the earth, and of the earth are his words : he who comes from heaven is over all.
32 He gives witness of what he has seen and of what has come to his ears; and no man takes his witness as true.
33 He who so takes his witness has made clear his faith that God is true.
34 For he whom God has sent says God's words; and God does not give him the Spirit by measure.
35 The Father has love for the Son and has put all things into his hands.
3:36 He who has faith in the Son has eternal life; but he who has not faith in the Son will not see life; God's wrath is resting on him.
John, 4
4:1 Now when it was clear to the Lord that word had come to the ears of the Pharisees that Jesus was making more disciples than John and was giving them baptism
2 (Though, in fact, it was his disciples who gave baptism, not Jesus himself),
3 He went out of Judaea into Galilee again.
4 And it was necessary for him to go through Samaria.
5 So he came to a town of Samaria which was named Sychar, near to the bit of land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph:
6 Now Jacob's fountain was there. Jesus, being tired after his journey, was resting by the fountain. It was about the sixth hour.
4:7 A woman of Samaria came to get water, and Jesus said to her, Give me some water.
8 For his disciples had gone to the town to get food.
9 The woman of Samaria said to him, Why do you, a Jew, make a request for water to me, a woman of Samaria ? She said this because Jews have nothing to do with the people of Samaria.
10 In answer Jesus said, If you had knowledge of what God gives freely and who it is who says to you, Give me water, you would make your prayer to him, and he would give you living water.
11 The woman said to him, Sir, you have no vessel and the fountain is deep; from where will you get the living water ?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the fountain and took the water of it himself, with his children and his cattle ?
13 Jesus said to her, Everyone who takes this water will be in need of it again:
14 But whoever takes the water I give him will never be in need of drink again; for the water I give him will become in him a fountain of eternal life.
15 The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be in need again of drink and will not have to come all this way for it.
4:16 Jesus said to her, Go, get your husband and come back here with him.
17 In answer, the woman said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have said rightly, I have no husband:
18 You have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband : that was truly said.
19 The woman said to him, Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
20 Our fathers gave worship on this mountain, but you Jews say that the right place for worship is in Jerusalem.
21 Jesus said to her, Woman, take my word for this; the time is coming when you will not give worship to the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.
22 You give worship, but without knowledge of what you are worshipping : we give worship to what we have knowledge of : for salvation comes from the Jews.
23 But the time is coming, and is even now here, when the true worshippers will give worship to the Father in the true way of the spirit, for these are the worshippers desired by the Father.
24 God is Spirit : then let his worshippers give him worship in the true way of the spirit.
25 The woman said to him, I am certain that the Messiah, who is named Christ, is coming; when he comes he will make all things clear to us.
26 Jesus said to her, I, who am talking to you, am he.
4:27 At that point the disciples came back, and they were surprised to see him talking to a woman; but not one of them said to him, What is your purpose ? or, Why are you talking to her ?
28 Then the woman put down her water-pot and went into the town, and said to the people,
29 Come and see a man who has been talking to me of everything I ever did ! Is it possible that this is the Christ ?
30 So they went out of the town and came to him.
4:31 While this was taking place, the disciples were saying to Jesus, Master, take some food.
32 But he said to them, I have food of which you have no knowledge.
33 So the disciples said one to another, Did anyone give him food ?
34 Jesus said, My food is to do the pleasure of him who sent me and to make his work complete.
35 You would say, Four months from now is the time of the grain-cutting. Take a look, I say to you, at the fields; they are even now white for cutting.
36 He who does the cutting now has his reward; he is getting together fruit for eternal life, so that he who did the planting and he who gets in the grain may have joy together.
37 In this the saying is a true one, One does the planting, and another gets in the grain.
38 I sent you to get in grain which you had no hand in planting : other men did that work, and you take the reward.
4:39 Now a number of the people of that town had faith in him because of the woman's witness : He has been talking to me of everything I ever did.
40 So when the people came to him they made request to him to be among them for a time, and he was there two days.
41 And a great number more of them came to have faith in him because of what he himself said.
42 And they said to the woman, Now we have faith, but not because of your story : we ourselves have given ear to his words, and we are certain that he is truly the Saviour of the world.
4:43 And after the two days he went on from there into Galilee.
44 For Jesus himself said that a prophet has no honour in the country of his birth.
45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galilaeans took him to their hearts because of the things which they had seen him do in Jerusalem at the feast--they themselves having been there at the feast.
4:46 So he came to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And there was a certain man of high position whose son was ill at Capernaum.
47 When it came to his ears that Jesus had come from Judaea into Galilee, he went to him and made a request that he would come down to his son, who was near to death, and make him well.
48 Then Jesus said to him, You will not have faith if you do not see signs and wonders.
49 The man said, Sir, come down before my boy is dead.
50 And Jesus said, Go in peace; your son is living. The man had faith in the word which Jesus said to him and went away.
51 And while he was going down, his servants came to him and said, Your boy is living.
52 So he put a question to them as to the hour when he became better; and they said to him, The disease went from him yesterday at the seventh hour.
53 It was clear then to the father that this was the very time at which Jesus said to him, Your son is living. And he had faith in Jesus, he and all his family.
54 Now this is the second sign which Jesus did after he had come out of Judaea into Galilee.
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