The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And he said to his disciples, It is necessary for causes of trouble to come about, but unhappy is he by whom they come.
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Jesus said to his disciples, "Things that make people fall into sin are bound to happen, but how terrible for the one who makes them happen!
2 It would be well for him if a great stone was put round his neck and he was dropped into the sea, before he made trouble for any of these little ones.
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It would be better for him if a large millstone were tied around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
3 Give attention to yourselves: if your brother does wrong, say a sharp word to him; and if he has sorrow for his sin, let him have forgiveness.
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So watch what you do! "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
4 And if he does you wrong seven times in a day, and seven times comes to you and says, I have regret for what I have done; let him have forgiveness.
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If he sins against you seven times in one day, and each time he comes to you saying, "I repent,' you must forgive him."
5 And the twelve said to the Lord, Make our faith greater.
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The apostles said to the Lord, "Make our faith greater."
6 And the Lord said, If your faith was only as great as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this tree, Be rooted up and planted in the sea; and it would be done.
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The Lord answered, "If you had faith as big as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, "Pull yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea!' and it would obey you.
7 But which of you, having a servant who is ploughing or keeping sheep, will say to him, when he comes in from the field, Come now and be seated and have a meal,
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"Suppose one of you has a servant who is plowing or looking after the sheep. When he comes in from the field, do you tell him to hurry along and eat his meal?
8 Will he not say, Get a meal for me, and make yourself ready and see to my needs till I have had my food and drink; and after that you may have yours?
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Of course not! Instead, you say to him, "Get my supper ready, then put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may have your meal.'
9 Does he give praise to the servant because he did what was ordered?
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The servant does not deserve thanks for obeying orders, does he?
10 In the same way, when you have done all the things which are given you to do, say, There is no profit in us, for we have only done what we were ordered to do.
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It is the same with you; when you have done all you have been told to do, say, "We are ordinary servants; we have only done our duty.' "
11 And it came about that when they were on the way to Jerusalem he went through Samaria and Galilee.
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As Jesus made his way to Jerusalem, he went along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
12 And when he went into a certain small town he came across ten men who were lepers, and they, keeping themselves at a distance,
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He was going into a village when he was met by ten men suffering from a dreaded skin disease. They stood at a distance
13 Said, in loud voices, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
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and shouted, "Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!"
14 And when he saw them he said, Go, and let the priests see you. And, while they were going, they were made clean.
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Jesus saw them and said to them, "Go and let the priests examine you." On the way they were made clean.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was clean, turning back, gave praise to God in a loud voice;
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When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice.
16 And, falling down on his face at the feet of Jesus, he gave the credit to him; and he was a man of Samaria.
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He threw himself to the ground at Jesus' feet and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan.
17 And Jesus said, Were there not ten men who were made clean? where are the nine?
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Jesus spoke up, "There were ten who were healed; where are the other nine?
18 Have not any of them come back to give glory to God, but only this one from a strange land?
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Why is this foreigner the only one who came back to give thanks to God?"
19 And he said to him, Get up, and go on your way; your faith has made you well.
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And Jesus said to him, "Get up and go; your faith has made you well."
20 And when the Pharisees put questions to him about when the kingdom of God would come, he gave them an answer and said, The kingdom of God will not come through observation:
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Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. His answer was, "The Kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen.
21 And men will not say, See, it is here! or, There! for the kingdom of God is among you.
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No one will say, "Look, here it is!' or, "There it is!'; because the Kingdom of God is within you."
22 And he said to his disciples, The time will come when you will have a great desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, but you will not see it.
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Then he said to the disciples, "The time will come when you will wish you could see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.
23 And if they say to you, See, it is there! or, It is here! do not go away, or go after them.
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There will be those who will say to you, "Look, over there!' or, "Look, over here!' But don't go out looking for it.
24 For as in a thunderstorm the bright light is seen from one end of the sky to the other, so will the Son of man be when his time comes.
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As the lightning flashes across the sky and lights it up from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
25 But first, he will have to undergo much and be put on one side by this generation.
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But first he must suffer much and be rejected by the people of this day.
26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the day of the Son of man.
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As it was in the time of Noah so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man.
27 They were feasting and taking wives and getting married, till the day of the overflowing of the waters, when Noah went into the ark, and they all came to destruction.
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Everybody kept on eating and drinking, and men and women married, up to the very day Noah went into the boat and the flood came and killed them all.
28 In the same way, in the days of Lot; they were feasting and trading, they were planting and building;
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It will be as it was in the time of Lot. Everybody kept on eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.
29 But on the day when Lot went out of Sodom, fire came down from heaven and destruction came on them all.
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On the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and killed them all.
30 So will it be in the day of the revelation of the Son of man.
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That is how it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
31 On that day, if anyone is on the roof of the house, and his goods are in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and let him who is in the field not go back to his house.
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"On that day someone who is on the roof of a house must not go down into the house to get any belongings; in the same way anyone who is out in the field must not go back to the house.
32 Keep in mind Lot's wife.
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Remember Lot's wife!
33 If anyone makes an attempt to keep his life, it will be taken from him, but if anyone gives up his life, he will keep it.
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Those who try to save their own life will lose it; those who lose their life will save it.
34 I say to you, In that night there will be two men sleeping in one bed, and one will be taken away and the other let go.
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On that night, I tell you, there will be two people sleeping in the same bed: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind.
35 Two women will be crushing grain together; one will be taken away and the other let go.
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Two women will be grinding meal together: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind."
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37 And they, answering him, said, Where, Lord? And he said to them, Where the body is, there will the eagles come together.
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The disciples asked him, "Where, Lord?" Jesus answered, "Wherever there is a dead body, the vultures will gather."
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.