Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

1 Samuel (1 Kings) 10 / Basic English

1. Then Samuel took the bottle of oil, and put the oil on his head and gave him a kiss and said, Is not the Lord with the holy oil making you ruler over Israel, his people? and you will have authority over the people of the Lord, and you will make them safe from the hands of their attackers round about them, and this will be the sign for you:
2. When you have gone away from me today, you will see two men by the resting-place of Rachel's body, in the land of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say to you, The asses which you went in search of have come back, and now your father, caring no longer for the asses, is troubled about you, saying, What am I to do about my son?
3. Then you are to go on from there, and when you come to the oak-tree of Tabor, you will see three men going up to God to Beth-el, one having with him three young goats and another three cakes of bread and another a skin full of wine:
4. They will say, Peace be with you, and will give you two cakes of bread, which you are to take from them.
5. After that you will come to Gibeah, the hill of God, where an armed force of the Philistines is stationed: and when you come to the town, you will see a band of prophets coming down from the high place with instruments of music before them; and they will be acting like prophets:
6. And the spirit of the Lord will come on you with power, and you will be acting like a prophet with them, and will be changed into another man.
7. And when these signs come to you, see that you take the chance which is offered you; for God is with you.
8. Then you are to go down before me to Gilgal, where I will come to you, for the offering of burned offerings and peace-offerings: go on waiting there for seven days till I come to you and make clear to you what you have to do.
9. And it came about, that when he went away from Samuel, God gave him a changed heart: and all those signs took place that day.
10. And when they came to Gibeah, a band of prophets came face to face with him; and the spirit of God came on him with power and he took his place among them as a prophet.
11. Now when Saul's old friends saw him among the band of prophets, the people said to one another, What has come to Saul, the son of Kish? Is even Saul among the prophets?
12. And one of the people of that place said in answer, And who is their father? So it became a common saying, Is even Saul among the prophets?
13. Then going away from the prophets, he came to the house.
14. And Saul's father's brother said to him and his servant, Where have you been? And he said, Searching for the asses: and when we saw no sign of them, we came to Samuel.
15. Then he said, And what did Samuel say to you?
16. And Saul, answering him, said, He gave us word that the asses had come back. But he said nothing to him of Samuel's words about the kingdom.
17. Then Samuel sent for the people to come together before the Lord at Mizpah;
18. And he said to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, I took Israel out of Egypt, and made you free from the hands of the Egyptians and from all the kingdoms which kept you down:
19. But today you are turned away from your God, who himself has been your saviour from all your troubles and sorrows; and you have said to him, Put a king over us. So now, take your places before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.
20. So Samuel made all the tribes of Israel come near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken.
21. Then he made the tribe of Benjamin come near by families, and the family of the Matrites was taken: and from them, Saul, the son of Kish, was taken: but when they went in search of him he was nowhere to be seen.
22. So they put another question to the Lord, Is the man present here? And the answer of the Lord was, He is keeping himself from view among the goods.
23. So they went quickly and made him come out; and when he took his place among the people, he was taller by a head than any of the people.
24. And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see the man of the Lord's selection, how there is no other like him among all the people? And all the people with loud cries said, Long life to the king!
25. Then Samuel gave the people the laws of the kingdom, writing them in a book which he put in a safe place before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.
26. And Saul went to Gibeah, to his house; and with him went the men of war whose hearts had been touched by God.
27. But certain good-for-nothing persons said, How is this man to be our saviour? And having no respect for him, they gave him no offering.

1 Samuel (1 Kings) 11 / Basic English

1. Then about a month after this, Nahash the Ammonite came up and put his forces in position for attacking Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make an agreement with us and we will be your servants.
2. And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, I will make an agreement with you on this condition, that all your right eyes are put out; so that I may make it a cause of shame to all Israel.
3. Then the responsible men of Jabesh said to him, Give us seven days, so that we may send men to every part of Israel: and then, if no one comes to our help, we will come out to you.
4. So they sent representatives to Saul's town Gibeah, and these gave the news to the people: and all the people gave themselves to weeping.
5. Now Saul came from the field, driving the oxen before him; and he said, Why are the people weeping? And they gave him word of what the men of Jabesh had said.
6. And at their words, the spirit of God came on Saul with power, and he became very angry.
7. And he took two oxen and, cutting them up, sent them through all the land of Israel by the hand of runners, saying, If any man does not come out after Saul and Samuel, this will be done to his oxen. And the fear of the Lord came on the people and they came out like one man.
8. And he had them numbered in Bezek: the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
9. Then he said to the representatives who had come, Say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, Tomorrow, by the time the sun is high, you will be made safe. And the representatives came and gave the news to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.
10. So the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.
11. Now on the day after, Saul put the people into three bands, and in the morning watch they came to the tents of the Ammonites, and they went on attacking them till the heat of the day: and those who were not put to death were put to flight in every direction, so that no two of them were together.
12. And the people said to Samuel, Who was it who said, Is Saul to be our king? give the men up, so that we may put them to death.
13. And Saul said, Not a man is to be put to death today: for today the Lord has made Israel safe.
14. Then Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal and there make the kingdom strong in the hands of Saul.
15. So all the people went to Gilgal; and there in Gilgal they made Saul king before the Lord; and peace-offerings were offered before the Lord; and there Saul and all the men of Israel were glad with great joy.

Psalms 114 / Basic English

1. When Israel came out of Egypt, the children of Jacob from a people whose language was strange to them;
2. Judah became his holy place, and Israel his kingdom.
3. The sea saw it, and went in flight; Jordan was turned back.
4. The mountains were jumping like goats, and the little hills like lambs.
5. What was wrong with you, O sea, that you went in flight? O Jordan, that you were turned back?
6. You mountains, why were you jumping like goats, and you little hills like lambs?
7. Be troubled, O earth, before the Lord, before the God of Jacob;
8. Who made the rock into a water-spring, and the hard stone into a fountain.

Psalms 115 / Basic English

1. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name let glory be given, because of your mercy and your unchanging faith.
2. Why may the nations say, Where is now their God?
3. But our God is in heaven: he has done whatever was pleasing to him.
4. Their images are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
5. They have mouths, but no voice; they have eyes, but they see not;
6. They have ears, but no hearing; they have noses, but no sense of smell;
7. They have hands without feeling, and feet without power of walking; and no sound comes from their throat.
8. Those who make them are like them; and so is everyone who puts his faith in them.
9. O Israel, have faith in the Lord: he is their help and their breastplate.
10. O house of Aaron, have faith in the Lord: he is their help and their breastplate.
11. You worshippers of the Lord, have faith in the Lord: he is their help and their breastplate.
12. The Lord has kept us in mind and will give us his blessing; he will send blessings on the house of Israel and on the house of Aaron.
13. He will send blessings on the worshippers of the Lord, on the small and on the great.
14. May the Lord give you and your children still greater increase.
15. May you have the blessing of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
16. The heavens are the Lord's; but the earth he has given to the children of men.
17. The dead do not give praise to the Lord; or those who go down to the underworld.
18. But we will give praise to the Lord now and for ever. Praise be to the Lord.