Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

1 Samuel (1 Kings) 26 / Basic English

1. And the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, and said, Is not David waiting secretly near us in the hill of Hachilah, before the waste land?
2. Then Saul went down to the waste land of Ziph, taking with him three thousand of the best men of Israel, to make search for David in the waste land of Ziph.
3. And Saul put up his tents on the hill of Hachilah, which is in front of the waste land on the road. But David was in the waste land, and he saw that Saul was coming after him.
4. And so David sent out watchers, and got word from them that Saul was certainly coming.
5. And David got up and came to the place where Saul's tents were: and David had a view of the place where Saul was sleeping with Abner, the son of Ner, the captain of his army: and Saul was sleeping inside the ring of carts, and the tents of the people were all round him.
6. Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, Who will go down with me to the tents of Saul? And Abishai said, I will go down with you.
7. So David and Abishai came down to the army by night: and Saul was sleeping inside the ring of carts with his spear planted in the earth by his head: and Abner and the people were sleeping round him.
8. Then Abishai said to David, God has given up your hater into your hands today; now let me give him one blow through to the earth with his spear, and there will be no need to give him a second.
9. And David said to Abishai Do not put him to death; for who, without sin, may put out his hand against the man on whom the Lord has put the holy oil?
10. And David said, By the living Lord, the Lord will send destruction on him; the natural day of his death will come, or he will go into the fight and come to his end.
11. Never will my hand be stretched out against the man marked with the holy oil; but take the spear which is by his head and the vessel of water, and let us go.
12. So David took the spear and the vessel of water from Saul's head; and they got away without any man seeing them, or being conscious of their coming, or awaking; for they were all sleeping because a deep sleep from the Lord had come on them.
13. Then David went over to the other side, and took his place on the top of a mountain some distance away, with a great space between them;
14. And crying out to the people and to Abner, the son of Ner, David said, Have you no answer to give, Abner? Then Abner said, Who is that crying out to the king?
15. And David said to Abner, Are you not a man of war? is there any other like you in Israel? why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? for one of the people came in to put the king your lord to death.
16. What you have done is not good. By the living Lord, death is the right fate for you, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the man on whom the Lord has put the holy oil. Now see, where is the king's spear, and the vessel of water which was by his head?
17. And Saul, conscious that the voice was David's, said, Is that your voice, David, my son? And David said, It is my voice, O my lord king.
18. And he said, Why does my lord go armed against his servant? what have I done? or what evil is there in me?
19. Let my lord the king give ear now to the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who is moving you against me, let him take an offering: but if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for driving me out today and keeping me from my place in the heritage of the Lord, saying, Go, be the servant of other gods.
20. Then do not let my blood be drained out on the earth away from the face of the Lord: for the king of Israel has come out to take my life, like one going after birds in the mountains.
21. Then Saul said, I have done wrong: come back to me, David my son: I will do you no more wrong, because my life was dear to you today truly, I have been foolish and my error is very great.
22. Then David said, Here is the king's spear! let one of the young men come over and get it.
23. And the Lord will give to every man the reward of his righteousness and his faith: because the Lord gave you into my hands today, and I would not put out my hand against the man who has been marked with the holy oil.
24. And so, as your life was dear to me today, may my life be dear to the Lord, and may he make me free from all my troubles.
25. Then Saul said to David, May a blessing be on you, David, my son; you will do great things and without doubt you will overcome. Then David went on his way, and Saul went back to his place.

1 Samuel (1 Kings) 27 / Basic English

1. And David said to himself, Some day death will come to me by the hand of Saul: the only thing for me to do is to get away into the land of the Philistines; then Saul will give up hope of taking me in any part of the land of Israel: and so I may be able to get away from him.
2. So David and the six hundred men who were with him went over to Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
3. And David and his men were living with Achish at Gath; every man had his family with him, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, who had been the wife of Nabal.
4. And Saul, hearing that David had gone to Gath, went after him no longer.
5. Then David said to Achish, If now I have grace in your eyes, let me have a place in one of the smaller towns of your land, to be my living-place; for it is not right for your servant to be living with you in the king's town.
6. So Achish straight away gave him Ziklag: and for that reason Ziklag has been the property of the kings of Judah to this day.
7. And David was living in the land of the Philistines for the space of a year and four months.
8. And David and his men went up and made attacks on the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for these were the people who were living in the land from Telam on the way to Shur, as far as Egypt.
9. And David again and again made attacks on the land till not a man or a woman was still living; and he took away the sheep and the oxen and the asses and the camels and the clothing; and he came back to Achish.
10. And every time Achish said, Where have you been fighting today? David said, Against the South of Judah and the South of the Jerahmeelites and the South of the Kenites.
11. Not one living man or woman did David ever take back with him to Gath, fearing that they might give an account of what had taken place, and say, This is what David did, and so has he been doing all the time while he has been living in the land of the Philistines.
12. And Achish had belief in what David said, saying, He has made himself hated by all his people Israel, and so he will be my servant for ever.

1 Samuel (1 Kings) 28 / Basic English

1. Now in those days the Philistines got their forces together to make war on Israel. And Achish said to David, Certainly you and your men are to go out with me to the fight.
2. And David said to Achish, You will see now what your servant will do. And Achish said to David, Then I will make you keeper of my head for ever.
3. Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel, after weeping for him, had put his body in its last resting-place in Ramah, his town. And Saul had put away from the land all those who had control of spirits and who made use of secret arts.
4. And the Philistines came together and put their forces in position in Shunem; and Saul got all Israel together and they took up their positions in Gilboa.
5. And when Saul saw the Philistine army he was troubled, and his heart was moved with fear.
6. And when Saul went for directions to the Lord, the Lord gave him no answer, by a dream or by the Urim or by the prophets.
7. Then Saul said to his servants, Get me a woman who has control of a spirit so that I may go to her and get directions. And his servants said to him, There is such a woman at En-dor.
8. So Saul, putting on other clothing, so that he might not be seen to be the king, took two men with him and went to the woman by night; and he said, Now, with the help of the spirit which you have, make the person whose name I will give you come up.
9. And the woman said to him, But you have knowledge of what Saul has done, how he has put away out of the land those who have control of spirits and the users of secret arts: why would you, by a trick, put me in danger of death?
10. And Saul made an oath to her by the Lord, saying, By the living Lord, no punishment will come to you for this.
11. Then the woman said, Who am I to let you see? And he said, Make Samuel come up for me.
12. And the woman saw that it was Saul, and she gave a loud cry, and said to Saul, Why have you made use of deceit? for you are Saul.
13. And the king said to her, Have no fear: what do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth.
14. And he said to her, What is his form? And she said, It is an old man coming up covered with a robe. And Saul saw that it was Samuel, and with his face bent down to the earth he gave him honour.
15. And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you made me come up, troubling my rest? And Saul in answer said, I am in great danger; for the Philistines are making war on me, and God has gone away from me and will no longer give me any answer, by the prophets or by dreams: so I have sent for you to make clear to me what I am to do.
16. And Samuel said, Why do you put your questions to me, seeing that God has gone away from you and is on the side of him who is against you?
17. And the Lord himself has done what I said: the Lord has taken the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbour David;
18. Because you did not do what the Lord said, and did not give effect to his burning wrath against Amalek. So the Lord has done this thing to you today.
19. And more than this, the Lord will give Israel up with you into the hands of the Philistines: and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me: and the Lord will give up the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.
20. Then Saul went down flat on the earth, and was full of fear because of Samuel's words: and there was no strength in him, for he had taken no food all that day or all that night.
21. And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was in great trouble, and said to him, See now, your servant has given ear to your words, and I have put my life in danger by doing what you said.
22. So now, give ear to the voice of your servant, and let me give you a little bread; and take some food to give you strength when you go on your way.
23. But he would not, saying, I have no desire for food. But his servants, together with the woman, made him take food, and he gave way to them. So he got up from the earth, and took his seat on the bed.
24. And the woman had in the house a young cow, made fat for food; and she put it to death straight away; and she took meal and got it mixed and made unleavened bread;
25. And she put it before Saul and his servants, and they had a meal. Then they got up and went away the same night.

Psalms 133 / Basic English

1. <A Song of the going up. Of David.> See how good and how pleasing it is for brothers to be living together in harmony!
2. It is like oil of great price on the head, flowing down over the face, even Aaron's face: coming down to the edge of his robe;
3. Like the dew of Hermon, which comes down on the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord gave orders for the blessing, even life for ever.

Psalms 134 / Basic English

1. <A Song of the going up.> Give praise to the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who take your places in the house of the Lord by night.
2. Give praise to the Lord, lifting up your hands in his holy place.
3. May the Lord, who made heaven and earth, send you blessing out of Zion,

Psalms 135 / Basic English

1. Let the Lord be praised. O you servants of the Lord, give praise to the name of the Lord.
2. You who are in the house of the Lord, and in the open spaces of the house of our God,
3. Give praise to Jah, for he is good: make melody to his name, for it is pleasing.
4. For the Lord has taken Jacob for himself, and Israel for his property.
5. I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is greater than all other gods.
6. The Lord has done whatever was pleasing to him, in heaven, and on the earth, in the seas and in all the deep waters.
7. He makes the mists go up from the ends of the earth; he makes thunder-flames for the rain; he sends out the winds from his store-houses.
8. He put to death the first-fruits of Egypt, of man and of beast.
9. He sent signs and wonders among you, O Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his servants.
10. He overcame great nations, and put strong kings to death;
11. Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan;
12. And gave their land for a heritage, even for a heritage to Israel his people.
13. O Lord, your name is eternal; and the memory of you will have no end.
14. For the Lord will be judge of his people's cause; his feelings will be changed to his servants.
15. The images of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
16. They have mouths, but no voice, they have eyes, but they do not see;
17. They have ears, but no hearing; and there is no breath in their mouths.
18. Those who make them are like them; and so is everyone who puts his hope in them.
19. Give praise to the Lord, O children of Israel: give praise to the Lord, O sons of Aaron:
20. Give praise to the Lord, O sons of Levi: let all the worshippers of the Lord give him praise.
21. Praise be to the Lord out of Zion, even to the Lord whose house is in Jerusalem, Let the Lord be praised.