Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Samuel (2 Kings) 14 / Basic English

1. Now it was clear to Joab, the son of Zeruiah, that the king's heart was turning to Absalom.
2. And Joab sent to Tekoa and got from there a wise woman, and said to her, Now make yourself seem like one given up to grief, and put on the clothing of sorrow, not using any sweet oil for your body, but looking like one who for a long time has been weeping for the dead:
3. And come to the king and say these words to him. So Joab gave her words to say.
4. And the woman of Tekoa came to the king, and falling on her face, gave him honour and said, Give me help, O king.
5. And the king said to her, What is your trouble? And her answer was, Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead.
6. And I had two sons, and the two of them had a fight in the field, and there was no one to come between them, and one with a blow put the other to death.
7. And now all the family is turned against me, your servant, saying, Give up him who was the cause of his brother's death, so that we may put him to death in payment for the life of his brother, whose life he took; and we will put an end to the one who will get the heritage: so they will put out my last burning coal, and my husband will have no name or offspring on the face of the earth.
8. And the king said to the woman, Go to your house and I will give orders about this.
9. And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, My lord, O king, may the sin be on me and on my family, and may the king and the seat of his kingdom be clear of sin!
10. And the king said, If anyone says anything to you, make him come to me, and he will do you no more damage.
11. Then she said, Let the king keep in mind the Lord your God, so that he who gives punishment for blood may be kept back from further destruction and that no one may send death on my son. And he said, By the living Lord, not a hair of your son's head will come to the earth.
12. Then the woman said, Will the king let his servant say one word more? And he said, Say on.
13. And the woman said, Why have you had such a thought about the people of God? (for in saying these very words the king has put himself in the wrong because he has not taken back the one whom he sent far away.)
14. For death comes to us all, and we are like water drained out on the earth, which it is not possible to take up again; and God will not take away the life of the man whose purpose is that he who has been sent away may not be completely cut off from him.
15. And now it is my fear of the people which has made me come to say these words to my lord the king: and your servant said, I will put my cause before the king, and it may be that he will give effect to my request.
16. For the king will give ear, and take his servant out of the power of the man whose purpose is the destruction of me and my son together from the heritage of God.
17. Then your servant said, May the word of my lord the king give me peace! for my lord the king is as the angel of God in his hearing of good and bad: and may the Lord your God be with you!
18. Then the king said to the woman, Now give me an answer to the question I am going to put to you; keep nothing back. And the woman said, Let my lord the king say on.
19. And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with you in all this? And the woman in answer said, By the life of your soul, my lord the king, it is not possible for anyone to go to the right hand or to the left from anything said by the king: your servant Joab gave me orders, and put all these words in my mouth:
20. This he did, hoping that the face of this business might be changed: and my lord is wise, with the wisdom of the angel of God, having knowledge of everything on earth.
21. And the king said to Joab, See now, I will do this thing: go then and Come back with the young man Absalom.
22. Then Joab, falling down on his face on the earth, gave the king honour and blessing; and Joab said, Today it is clear to your servant that I have grace in your eyes, my lord king, because the king has given effect to the request of his servant.
23. So Joab got up and went to Geshur and came back again to Jerusalem with Absalom.
24. And the king said, Let him go to his house, but let him not see my face. So Absalom went back to his house and did not see the face of the king.
25. Now in all Israel there was no one so greatly to be praised for his beautiful form as Absalom: from his feet to the crown of his head he was completely beautiful.
26. And when he had his hair cut, (which he did at the end of every year, because of the weight of his hair;) the weight of the hair was two hundred shekels by the king's weight.
27. And Absalom was the father of three sons and of one daughter named Tamar, who was very beautiful.
28. For two full years Absalom was living in Jerusalem without ever seeing the face of the king.
29. Then Absalom sent for Joab to send him to the king, but he would not come to him: and he sent again a second time, but he would not come.
30. So he said to his servants, See, Joab's field is near mine, and he has barley in it; go and put it on fire. And Absalom's servants put the field on fire.
31. Then Joab came to Absalom in his house and said to him, Why have your servants put my field on fire?
32. And Absalom's answer was, See, I sent to you saying, Come here, so that I may send you to the king to say, Why have I come back from Geshur? it would be better for me to be there still: let me now see the king's face, and if there is any sin in me, let him put me to death.
33. So Joab went to the king and said these words to him: and when the king had sent for him, Absalom came, and went down on his face on the earth before the king: and the king gave him a kiss.

2 Samuel (2 Kings) 15 / Basic English

1. Now after this, Absalom got for himself a carriage and horses, and fifty runners to go before him.
2. And Absalom got up early, morning after morning, and took his place at the side of the public meeting-place: and when any man had a cause which had to come to the king to be judged, then Absalom, crying out to him, said, What is your town? and he would say, Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.
3. And Absalom would say to him, See, your cause is true and right; but no man has been named by the king to give you a hearing.
4. And more than this, Absalom said, If only I was made judge in the land, so that every man who has any cause or question might come to me, and I would give a right decision for him!
5. And if any man came near to give him honour, he took him by the hand and gave him a kiss.
6. And this Absalom did to everyone in Israel who came to the king to have his cause judged: so Absalom, like a thief, took away the hearts of the men of Israel.
7. Now at the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, Let me go to Hebron and give effect to the oath which I made to the Lord:
8. For while I was living in Geshur in Aram, your servant made an oath, saying, If ever the Lord lets me come back to Jerusalem, I will give him worship in Hebron.
9. And the king said to him, Go in peace. So he got up and went to Hebron.
10. But Absalom at the same time sent watchers through all the tribes of Israel to say, At the sound of the horn you are to say, Absalom is king in Hebron.
11. And with Absalom, at his request, went two hundred men from Jerusalem, who were completely unconscious of his designs.
12. And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, one of David's helpers, from Giloh his town, while he was making the offerings. And the design against David became strong, for more and more people were joined to Absalom.
13. And one came to David and said, The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.
14. And David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, Come, let us go in flight, or not one of us will be safe from Absalom: let us go without loss of time, or he will overtake us quickly and send evil on us, and put the town to the sword.
15. And the king's servants said to the king, See, your servants are ready to do whatever the king says is to be done.
16. So the king went out, taking with him all the people of his house, but for ten of his women, who were to take care of the house.
17. And the king went out, and all his servants went after him, and made a stop at the Far House.
18. And all the people went on by his side; and all the Cherethites and all the Pelethites and all the men of Ittai of Gath, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, went on before the king.
19. Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why are you coming with us? go back and keep with the king: for you are a man of another country, you are far from the land of your birth.
20. It was only yesterday you came to us; why then am I to make you go up and down with us? for I have to go where I may; go back then, and take your countrymen with you, and may the Lord's mercy and good faith be with you.
21. And Ittai the Gittite in answer said, By the living Lord, and by the life of my lord the king, in whatever place my lord the king may be, for life or death, there will your servant be.
22. And David said to Ittai, Go forward, then. And Ittai the Gittite went on, with all his men and all the little ones he had with him.
23. And there was great weeping in all the country when all the people went through; and the king himself was waiting in the Kidron valley and all the people went by him in the direction of the olive-tree on the edge of the waste land.
24. Then Zadok came, and Abiathar, and with them the ark of God's agreement: and they put down the ark of God, till all the people from the town had gone by.
25. And the king said to Zadok, Take the ark of God back into the town: if I have grace in the eyes of the Lord, he will let me come back and see it and his House again:
26. But if he says, I have no delight in you: then, here I am; let him do to me what seems good to him.
27. The king said further to Zadok the priest, See, you and Abiathar are to go back to the town in peace, with your two sons, Ahimaaz, your son, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar.
28. See, I will be waiting at the way across the river, in the waste land, till I get news from you.
29. So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and did not go away from there.
30. And David went up the slopes of the Mount of Olives weeping all the way, with his head covered and no shoes on his feet: and all the people who were with him, covering their heads, went up weeping.
31. And word came to David, saying, Ahithophel is among those who are joined to Absalom. And David said, O Lord, let the wisdom of Ahithophel be made foolish.
32. Now when David had come to the top of the slope, where they gave worship to God, Hushai the Archite came to him in great grief with dust on his head:
33. David said to him, If you go on with me, you will be a trouble to me:
34. But if you go back to the town and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king; as in the past I have been your father's servant, so now I will be yours: then you will be able to keep Ahithophel's designs against me from being put into effect.
35. And have you not there Zadok and Abiathar the priests? so whatever comes to your ears from the king's house, give word of it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests.
36. See, they have with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok's son, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar; by them you may send word to me of everything which comes to your ears.
37. So Hushai, David's friend, went into the town, and Absalom came to Jerusalem.

Psalms 146 / Basic English

1. Let the Lord be praised. Give praise to the Lord, O my soul.
2. While I have breath I will give praise to the Lord: I will make melody to my God while I have my being.
3. Put not your faith in rulers, or in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4. Man's breath goes out, he is turned back again to dust; in that day all his purposes come to an end.
5. Happy is the man who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:
6. Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things in them; who keeps faith for ever:
7. Who gives their rights to those who are crushed down; and gives food to those who are in need of it: the Lord makes the prisoners free;
8. The Lord makes open the eyes of the blind; the Lord is the lifter up of those who are bent down; the Lord is a lover of the upright;
9. The Lord takes care of those who are in a strange land; he gives help to the widow and to the child who has no father; but he sends destruction on the way of sinners.
10. The Lord will be King for ever; your God, O Zion, will be King through all generations. Praise be to the Lord.

Psalms 147 / Basic English

1. Give praise to the Lord; for it is good to make melody to our God; praise is pleasing and beautiful.
2. The Lord is building up Jerusalem; he makes all the outlaws of Israel come together.
3. He makes the broken-hearted well, and puts oil on their wounds.
4. He sees the number of the stars; he gives them all their names.
5. Great is our Lord, and great his power; there is no limit to his wisdom.
6. The Lord gives help to the poor in spirit; but he sends sinners down in shame.
7. Make songs of praise to the Lord; make melody to our God with instruments of music.
8. By his hand the heaven is covered with clouds and rain is stored up for the earth; he makes the grass tall on the mountains.
9. He gives food to every beast, and to the young ravens in answer to their cry.
10. He has no delight in the strength of a horse; he takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
11. The Lord takes pleasure in his worshippers, and in those whose hope is in his mercy.
12. Give praise to the Lord, O Jerusalem; give praise to your God, O Zion.
13. He has made strong the iron bands of your doors; he has sent blessings on your children inside your walls.
14. He gives peace in all your land, making your stores full of fat grain.
15. He sends out his orders to the earth; his word goes out quickly.
16. He gives snow like wool; he sends out ice-drops like dust.
17. He sends down ice like raindrops: water is made hard by his cold.
18. At the outgoing of his word, the ice is turned to water; when he sends out his wind, there is a flowing of waters.
19. He makes his word clear to Jacob, teaching Israel his laws and his decisions.
20. He has not done these things for any other nation: and as for his laws, they have no knowledge of them. Let the Lord be praised.