Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

1 Samuel (1 Kings) 7 / Basic English

1. So the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark of the Lord to the house of Abinadab in Gibeah, and they made his son Eleazar holy and put the ark in his care.
2. And the ark was in Kiriath-jearim for a long time, as much as twenty years: and all Israel was searching after the Lord with weeping.
3. Then Samuel said to all Israel, If with all your hearts you would come back to the Lord, then put away all the strange gods and the Astartes from among you, and let your hearts be turned to the Lord, and be servants to him only: and he will make you safe from the hands of the Philistines.
4. So the children of Israel gave up the worship of Baal and Astarte, and became worshippers of the Lord only.
5. Then Samuel said, Let all Israel come to Mizpah and I will make prayer to the Lord for you.
6. So they came together to Mizpah, and got water, draining it out before the Lord, and they took no food that day, and they said, We have done evil against the Lord. And Samuel was judge of the children of Israel in Mizpah.
7. Now when the Philistines had news that the children of Israel had come together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And the children of Israel, hearing of it, were full of fear.
8. And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Go on crying to the Lord our God for us to make us safe from the hands of the Philistines.
9. And Samuel took a young lamb, offering all of it as a burned offering to the Lord; and Samuel made prayers to the Lord for Israel and the Lord gave him an answer.
10. And while Samuel was offering the burned offering, the Philistines came near for the attack on Israel; but at the thunder of the Lord's voice that day the Philistines were overcome with fear, and they gave way before Israel.
11. And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and went after the Philistines, attacking them till they came under Beth-car.
12. Then Samuel took a stone and put it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, naming it Eben-ezer, and saying, Up to now the Lord has been our help.
13. So the Philistines were overcome, and did not come into the country of Israel again: and all the days of Samuel the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines.
14. And the towns which the Philistines had taken were given back to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and all the country round them Israel made free from the power of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
15. And Samuel was judge of Israel all the days of his life.
16. From year to year he went in turn to Beth-el and Gilgal and Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places.
17. And his base was at Ramah, where his house was; there he was judge of Israel and there he made an altar to the Lord.

1 Samuel (1 Kings) 8 / Basic English

1. Now when Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.
2. The name of his first son was Joel and the name of his second Abijah: they were judges in Beer-sheba.
3. And his sons did not go in his ways, but moved by the love of money took rewards, and were not upright in judging.
4. Then all the responsible men of Israel got together and went to Samuel at Ramah,
5. And said to him, See now, you are old, and your sons do not go in your ways: give us a king now to be our judge, so that we may be like the other nations.
6. But Samuel was not pleased when they said to him, Give us a king to be our judge. And Samuel made prayer to the Lord.
7. And the Lord said to Samuel, Give ear to the voice of the people and what they say to you: they have not been turned away from you, but they have been turned away from me, not desiring me to be king over them.
8. As they have done from the first, from the day when I took them out of Egypt till this day, turning away from me and worshipping other gods, so now they are acting in the same way to you.
9. Give ear now to their voice: but make a serious protest to them, and give them a picture of the sort of king who will be their ruler.
10. And Samuel said all these words of the Lord to the people who were desiring a king.
11. And he said, This is the sort of king who will be your ruler: he will take your sons and make them his servants, his horsemen, and drivers of his war-carriages, and they will go running before his war-carriages;
12. And he will make them captains of thousands and of fifties; some he will put to work ploughing and cutting his grain and making his instruments of war and building his war-carriages.
13. Your daughters he will take to be makers of perfumes and cooks and bread-makers.
14. He will take your fields and your vine-gardens and your olive-gardens, all the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15. He will take a tenth of your seed and of the fruit of your vines and give it to his servants.
16. He will take your men-servants and your servant-girls, and the best of your oxen and your asses and put them to his work.
17. He will take a tenth of your sheep: and you will be his servants.
18. Then you will be crying out because of your king whom you have taken for yourselves; but the Lord will not give you an answer in that day.
19. But the people gave no attention to the voice of Samuel; and they said, No, but we will have a king over us,
20. So that we may be like the other nations, and so that our king may be our judge and go out before us to war.
21. Then Samuel, after hearing all the people had to say, went and gave an account of it to the Lord.
22. And the Lord said to Samuel, Give ear to their voice and make a king for them. Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, Let every man go back to his town.

1 Samuel (1 Kings) 9 / Basic English

1. Now there was a man of Benjamin named Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a man of wealth.
2. He had a son named Saul, a specially good-looking young man; there was no one better-looking among the children of Israel: he was taller by a head than any other of the people.
3. Now the asses of Saul's father Kish had gone wandering away. And Kish said to his son Saul, Take one of the servants with you, and get up and go in search of the asses.
4. So they went through the hill-country of Ephraim and through the land of Shalishah, but they saw no sign of them: then they went through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there: and they went through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not come across them.
5. And when they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, Come, let us go back, or my father may give up caring about the asses and be troubled about us.
6. But the servant said to him, See now, in this town there is a man of God, who is highly honoured, and everything he says comes true: let us go there now; it may be that he will give us directions about our journey.
7. Then Saul said to his servant, But if we go, what are we to take the man? all our bread is gone, and we have no offering to take to the man of God: what are we to do?
8. But the servant said in answer, I have here a fourth part of a shekel of silver: I will give that to the man of God, and he will give us directions about our way.
9. (In the past in Israel, when a man went to get directions from God, he said, Come let us go to the Seer, for he who now is named Prophet was in those days given the name of Seer.)
10. Then Saul said to his servant, You have said well; come, let us go. So they went to the town where the man of God was.
11. And when they were on the way up to the town, they saw some young girls going out to get water and said to them, Is the seer here?
12. And they said, He is; in fact he is before you: go quickly now, for he has come into the town today, for the people are making an offering in the high place today:
13. When you come into the town you will see him straight away, before he goes up to the high place for the feast: the people are waiting for his blessing before starting the feast, and after that the guests will take part in it. So go up now and you will see him.
14. So they went up to the town, and when they came inside the town, Samuel came face to face with them on his way to the high place.
15. Now the day before Saul came, the word of God had come to Samuel, saying,
16. Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and on him you are to put the holy oil, making him ruler over my people Israel, and he will make my people safe from the hands of the Philistines: for I have seen the sorrow of my people, whose cry has come up to me.
17. And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, This is the man of whom I gave you word! he it is who is to have authority over my people.
18. Then Saul came up to Samuel in the doorway of the town and said, Give me directions, if you will be so good, to the house of the seer.
19. Then Samuel said to Saul, I am the seer; go up before me to the high place and take food with me today: and in the morning I will let you go, after opening to you all the secrets of your heart.
20. As for your asses which have been wandering for three days, give no thought to them, for they have come back. And for whom are all the desired things in Israel? are they not for you and your father's family?
21. And Saul said, Am I not a man of Benjamin, the smallest of all the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of the families of Benjamin? why then do you say these words to me?
22. Then Samuel took Saul and his servant into the guest room, and made them take the chief place among all the guests who were there, about thirty persons.
23. And Samuel said to the cook, Give me that part which I gave you orders to keep by you.
24. And the cook took up the leg with the fat tail on it, and put it before Saul. And Samuel said, This is the part which has been kept for you: take it as your part of the feast; because it has been kept for you till the right time came and till the guests were present. So that day Saul took food with Samuel.
25. And when they had come down from the high place into the town, where a bed was made ready for Saul, he went to rest.
26. And about dawn Samuel said to Saul on the roof, Get up so that I may send you away. So Saul got up, and he and Samuel went out together.
27. And on their way down to the end of the town, Samuel said to Saul, Give your servant orders to go on in front of us, (so he went on,) but you keep here, so that I may give you the word of God.

Psalms 112 / Basic English

1. Let the Lord be praised. Happy is the man who gives honour to the Lord, and has great delight in his laws.
2. His seed will be strong on the earth; blessings will be on the generation of the upright.
3. A store of wealth will be in his house, and his righteousness will be for ever.
4. For the upright there is a light shining in the dark; he is full of grace and pity.
5. All is well for the man who is kind and gives freely to others; he will make good his cause when he is judged.
6. He will not ever be moved; the memory of the upright will be living for ever.
7. He will have no fear of evil news; his heart is fixed, for his hope is in the Lord.
8. His heart is resting safely, he will have no fear, till he sees trouble come on his haters.
9. He has given with open hands to the poor; his righteousness is for ever; his horn will be lifted up with honour.
10. The sinner will see it with grief; he will be wasted away with envy; the desire of the evil-doers will come to nothing.

Psalms 113 / Basic English

1. Let the Lord be praised. O you servants of the Lord, give praise to the name of the Lord.
2. Let blessing be on the name of the Lord, from this time and for ever.
3. From the coming up of the sun to its going down, the Lord's name is to be praised.
4. The Lord is high over all nations, and his glory is higher than the heavens.
5. Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high,
6. Looking down on the heavens, and on the earth?
7. He takes the poor man out of the dust, lifting him up from his low position;
8. To give him a place among the rulers, even with the rulers of his people.
9. He gives the unfertile woman a family, making her a happy mother of children. Give praise to the Lord.