Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Samuel (2 Kings) 9 / Basic English

1. And David said, Is there still anyone of Saul's family living, so that I may be a friend to him, because of Jonathan?
2. Now there was of Saul's people a servant named Ziba, and they sent him to David; and the king said to him, Are you Ziba? And he said, I am.
3. And the king said, Is there anyone of Saul's family still living, to whom I may be a friend in God's name? And Ziba said, There is a son of Jonathan, whose feet are damaged.
4. And the king said to him, Where is he? And Ziba said to the king, He is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.
5. Then King David sent, and had him taken from Lo-debar, from the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel.
6. And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, came to David, and falling down on his face, gave him honour. And David said, Mephibosheth. And answering he said, Your servant is here.
7. And David said to him, Have no fear: for truly I will be good to you, because of your father Jonathan, and I will give back to you all the land which was Saul's; and you will have a place at my table at all times.
8. And he went down on his face before the king, and said, What is your servant, for you to take note of a dead dog such as I am?
9. Then the king sent for Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, All the property of Saul and of his family I have given to your master's son.
10. And you and your sons and your servants are to take care of the land for him, and get in the fruit of it, so that your master's son may have food: but Mephibosheth, your master's son, will have a place at my table at all times. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
11. Then Ziba said to the king, Every order which you have given to your servant will be done. As for Mephibosheth, he had a place at David's table, like one of the king's sons.
12. And Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. And all the people living in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth.
13. So Mephibosheth went on living in Jerusalem; for he took all his meals at the king's table; and he had not the use of his feet.

2 Samuel (2 Kings) 10 / Basic English

1. Now after this, death came to the king of the children of Ammon, and Hanun, his son, became king in his place.
2. And David said, I will be a friend to Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father was a friend to me. So David sent his servants, to give him words of comfort on account of his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon.
3. But the chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Does it seem to you that David is honouring your father by sending comforters to you? has he not sent his servants to go through the town and make secret observation of it, and overcome it?
4. So Hanun took David's servants, and after cutting off half the hair on their chins, and cutting off the skirts of their robes up to the middle, he sent them away.
5. When David had news of it, he sent men out with the purpose of meeting them on their way, for the men were greatly shamed: and the king said, Go to Jericho till your hair is long again, and then come back.
6. And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves hated by David, they sent to the Aramaeans of Beth-rehob and Zobah, and got for payment twenty thousand footmen, and they got from the king of Maacah a thousand men, and from Tob twelve thousand.
7. And hearing of this, David sent Joab and all the army and the best fighting-men.
8. And the children of Ammon came out and put their forces in position at the way into the town: and the Aramaeans of Zobah and of Rehob, with the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.
9. Now when Joab saw that their forces were in position against him in front and at his back, he took the best of the men of Israel and put them in line against the Aramaeans;
10. And the rest of the people he put in position against the children of Ammon, with Abishai, his brother, at their head.
11. And he said, If the Aramaeans are stronger and get the better of me, then you are to come to my help; but if the children of Ammon get the better of you, I will come to your help.
12. Take heart, and let us be strong for our people and for the towns of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.
13. Then Joab and the people with him went forward to the fight against the Aramaeans, and they went in flight before him.
14. And when the children of Ammon saw the flight of the Aramaeans, they themselves went in flight from Abishai, and came into the town. So Joab went back from fighting the children of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.
15. And when the Aramaeans saw that Israel had overcome them, they got themselves together.
16. And Hadadezer sent for the Aramaeans who were on the other side of the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach, the captain of Hadadezer's army, at their head.
17. And word of this was given to David: and he got all Israel together and went over Jordan and came to Helam. And the Aramaeans put their forces in position against David, and made an attack on him.
18. And the Aramaeans went in flight before Israel; and David put to the sword the men of seven hundred Aramaean war-carriages and forty thousand footmen, and Shobach, the captain of the army, was wounded, and came to his death there.
19. And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they were overcome by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became their servants. So the Aramaeans, in fear, gave no more help to the children of Ammon.

2 Samuel (2 Kings) 11 / Basic English

1. Now in the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, David sent Joab and his servants and all Israel with him; and they made waste the land of the children of Ammon, and took up their position before Rabbah, shutting it in. But David was still at Jerusalem.
2. Now one evening, David got up from his bed, and while he was walking on the roof of the king's house, he saw from there a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.
3. And David sent to get knowledge who the woman was. And one said, Is this not Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4. And David sent and took her; and she came to him, and he took her to his bed: (for she had been made clean;) then she went back to her house.
5. And the woman became with child; and she sent word to David that she was with child.
6. And David sent to Joab saying, Send Uriah the Hittite to me. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7. And when Uriah came to him, David put questions to him about how Joab and the people were, and how the war was going.
8. And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and let your feet be washed. And Uriah went away from the king's house, and an offering from the king was sent after him.
9. But Uriah took his rest at the door of the king's house, with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
10. And when word was given to David that Uriah had not gone down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? why did you not go down to your house?
11. And Uriah said to David, Israel and Judah with the ark are living in tents, and my lord Joab and the other servants of my lord are sleeping in the open field; and am I to go to my house and take food and drink, and go to bed with my wife? By the living Lord, and by the life of your soul, I will not do such a thing.
12. And David said to Uriah, Be here today, and after that I will let you go. So Uriah was in Jerusalem that day and the day after.
13. And when David sent for him, he took meat and drink with him, and David made him the worse for drink: and when evening came, he went to rest on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
14. Now in the morning, David gave Uriah a letter to take to Joab.
15. And in the letter he said, Take care to put Uriah in the very front of the line, where the fighting is most violent, and go back from him, so that he may be overcome and put to death.
16. So while Joab was watching the town, he put Uriah in the place where it was clear to him the best fighters were.
17. And the men of the town went out and had a fight with Joab: and a number of David's men came to their death in the fight, and with them Uriah the Hittite.
18. Then Joab sent David news of everything which had taken place in the war:
19. And he gave orders to the man who took the news, saying, After you have given the king all the news about the war,
20. If the king is angry and says, Why did you go so near the town for the fight? was it not certain that their archers would be on the wall?
21. Who put Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, to death? did not a woman send a great stone down on him from the wall, putting him to death at Thebez? why did you go so near the wall? Then say to him, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is among the dead.
22. So the man went, and came to David, and gave him all the news which Joab had sent him to give; then David was angry with Joab and said, Why did you go so near the town for the fight? was it not certain that their archers would be on the wall? who put Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, to death? did not a woman send a great stone down on him from the wall, putting him to death at Thebez? why did you go so near the wall?
23. And the man said to David, Truly the men got the better of us, and came out against us into the open country, but we sent them back to the very doors of the town.
24. And the archers sent their arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king's servants are dead, and among them is your servant Uriah the Hittite.
25. Then David said to the man, Go and say to Joab, Do not let this be a grief to you; for one man may come to his death by the sword like another: put up an even stronger fight against the town, and take it: and do you put heart into him.
26. And when the wife of Uriah had news that her husband was dead, she gave herself up to weeping for him.
27. And when the days of weeping were past, David sent for her, and took her into his house, and she became his wife and gave him a son. But the Lord was not pleased with the thing David had done.

Psalms 144 / Basic English

1. <A Psalm. Of David.> Praise be to the God of my strength, teaching my hands the use of the sword, and my fingers the art of fighting:
2. He is my strength, and my Rock; my high tower, and my saviour; my keeper and my hope: he gives me authority over my people.
3. Lord, what is man, that you keep him in mind? or the son of man that you take him into account?
4. Man is like a breath: his life is like a shade which is quickly gone.
5. Come down, O Lord, from your heavens: at your touch let the mountains give out smoke.
6. With your storm-flames send them in flight: send out your arrows for their destruction.
7. Put out your hand from on high; make me free, take me safely out of the great waters, and out of the hands of strange men;
8. In whose mouths are false words, and whose right hand is a right hand of deceit.
9. I will make a new song to you, O God; I will make melody to you on an instrument of ten cords.
10. It is God who gives salvation to kings; and who kept his servant David from the wounding sword.
11. Make me free, and take me out of the hands of strange men, in whose mouths are false words, and whose right hand is a right hand of deceit.
12. Our sons are like tall young plants; and our daughters like the shining stones of a king's house;
13. Our store-houses are full of all good things; and our sheep give birth to thousands and ten thousands in our fields.
14. Our oxen are well weighted down; our cows give birth safely; there is no going out, and there is no cry of sorrow in our open places.
15. Happy is the nation whose ways are so ordered: yes, happy is the nation whose God is the Lord.