The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
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In the beginning, when God created the universe,
2 And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters.
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the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
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Then God commanded, "Let there be light" - and light appeared.
4 And God, looking on the light, saw that it was good: and God made a division between the light and the dark,
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God was pleased with what he saw. Then he separated the light from the darkness,
5 Naming the light, Day, and the dark, Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
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and he named the light "Day" and the darkness "Night." Evening passed and morning came - that was the first day.
6 And God said, Let there be a solid arch stretching over the waters, parting the waters from the waters.
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Then God commanded, "Let there be a dome to divide the water and to keep it in two separate places" - and it was done. So God made a dome, and it separated the water under it from the water above it.
7 And God made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it: and it was so.
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8 And God gave the arch the name of Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
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He named the dome "Sky." Evening passed and morning came - that was the second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven come together in one place, and let the dry land be seen: and it was so.
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Then God commanded, "Let the water below the sky come together in one place, so that the land will appear" - and it was done.
10 And God gave the dry land the name of Earth; and the waters together in their place were named Seas: and God saw that it was good.
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He named the land "Earth," and the water which had come together he named "Sea." And God was pleased with what he saw.
11 And God said, Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit-trees giving fruit, in which is their seed, after their sort: and it was so.
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Then he commanded, "Let the earth produce all kinds of plants, those that bear grain and those that bear fruit" - and it was done.
12 And grass came up on the earth, and every plant producing seed of its sort, and every tree producing fruit, in which is its seed, of its sort: and God saw that it was good.
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So the earth produced all kinds of plants, and God was pleased with what he saw.
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
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Evening passed and morning came - that was the third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the arch of heaven, for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years:
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Then God commanded, "Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin;
15 And let them be for lights in the arch of heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so.
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they will shine in the sky to give light to the earth" - and it was done.
16 And God made the two great lights: the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night: and he made the stars.
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So God made the two larger lights, the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night; he also made the stars.
17 And God put them in the arch of heaven, to give light on the earth;
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He placed the lights in the sky to shine on the earth,
18 To have rule over the day and the night, and for a division between the light and the dark: and God saw that it was good.
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to rule over the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God was pleased with what he saw.
19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
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Evening passed and morning came - that was the fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters be full of living things, and let birds be in flight over the earth under the arch of heaven.
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Then God commanded, "Let the water be filled with many kinds of living beings, and let the air be filled with birds."
21 And God made great sea-beasts, and every sort of living and moving thing with which the waters were full, and every sort of winged bird: and God saw that it was good.
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So God created the great sea monsters, all kinds of creatures that live in the water, and all kinds of birds. And God was pleased with what he saw.
22 And God gave them his blessing, saying, Be fertile and have increase, making all the waters of the seas full, and let the birds be increased in the earth.
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He blessed them all and told the creatures that live in the water to reproduce and to fill the sea, and he told the birds to increase in number.
23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
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Evening passed and morning came - that was the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort: and it was so.
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Then God commanded, "Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life: domestic and wild, large and small" - and it was done.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after its sort, and the cattle after their sort, and everything moving on the face of the earth after its sort: and God saw that it was good.
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So God made them all, and he was pleased with what he saw.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.
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Then God said, "And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small."
27 And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.
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So God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them male and female,
28 And God gave them his blessing and said to them, Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth.
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blessed them, and said, "Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals.
29 And God said, See, I have given you every plant producing seed, on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed: they will be for your food:
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I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat;
30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food: and it was so.
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but for all the wild animals and for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy plants for food" - and it was done.
31 And God saw everything which he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
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God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased. Evening passed and morning came - that was the sixth day.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.