Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

1 Kings (3 Kings) 11 / Basic English

1. Now a number of strange women were loved by Solomon, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites:
2. The nations of which the Lord had said to the children of Israel, You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you; or they will certainly make you go after their gods: to these Solomon was united in love.
3. He had seven hundred wives, daughters of kings, and three hundred other wives; and through his wives his heart was turned away.
4. For it came about that when Solomon was old, his heart was turned away to other gods by his wives; and his heart was no longer true to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been.
5. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites.
6. And Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not walking in the Lord's ways with all his heart as David his father did.
7. Then Solomon put up a high place for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, in the mountain before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the disgusting god worshipped by the children of Ammon.
8. And so he did for all his strange wives, who made offerings with burning of perfumes to their gods.
9. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had twice come to him in a vision;
10. And had given him orders about this very thing, that he was not to go after other gods; but he did not keep the orders of the Lord.
11. So the Lord said to Solomon, Because you have done this, and have not kept my agreement and my laws, which I gave you, I will take the kingdom away from you by force and will give it to your servant.
12. I will not do it in your life-time, because of your father David, but I will take it from your son.
13. Still I will not take all the kingdom from him; but I will give one tribe to your son, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town of my selection.
14. So the Lord sent Hadad the Edomite to make trouble for Solomon: he was of the king's seed in Edom.
15. And when David had sent destruction on Edom, and Joab, the captain of the army, had gone to put the dead into the earth, and had put to death every male in Edom;
16. (For Joab and all Israel were there six months till every male in Edom had been cut off;)
17. Hadad, being still a young boy, went in flight to Egypt, with certain Edomites, servants of his father;
18. And they went on from Midian and came to Paran; and, taking men from Paran with them, they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave him a house and gave orders for his food and gave him land.
19. Now Hadad was very pleasing to Pharaoh, so that he gave him the sister of his wife, Tahpenes the queen, for his wife.
20. And the sister of Tahpenes had a son by him, Genubath, whom Tahpenes took care of in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath was living in Pharaoh's house among Pharaoh's sons.
21. Now when Hadad had news in Egypt that David had been put to rest with his fathers, and that Joab, the captain of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, Send me back to my country.
22. But Pharaoh said to him, What have you been short of while you have been with me, that you are desiring to go back to your country? And he said, Nothing; but even so, send me back.
23. And God sent another trouble-maker, Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had gone in flight from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah:
24. He got some men together and made himself captain of a band of outlaws; and went to Damascus and became king there.
25. He was a trouble to Israel all through the days of Solomon. And this is the damage Hadad did: he was cruel to Israel while he was ruler over Edom.
26. And there was Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was Zeruah, a widow; and his hand was lifted up against the king.
27. The way in which his hand came to be lifted up against the king was this: Solomon was building the Millo and making good the damaged parts of the town of his father David;
28. And Jeroboam was an able and responsible man; and Solomon saw that he was a good worker and made him overseer of all the work given to the sons of Joseph.
29. Now at that time, when Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite came across him on the road; now Ahijah had put on a new robe; and the two of them were by themselves in the open country.
30. And Ahijah took his new robe in his hands, parting it violently into twelve.
31. And he said to Jeroboam, Take ten of the parts, for this is what the Lord has said: See, I will take the kingdom away from Solomon by force, and will give ten tribes to you;
32. (But one tribe will be his, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town which, out of all the tribes of Israel, I have made mine,)
33. Because they are turned away from me to the worship of Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Chemosh, the god of Moab, and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites; they have not been walking in my ways or doing what is right in my eyes or keeping my laws and my decisions as his father David did.
34. But I will not take the kingdom from him; I will let him be king all the days of his life, because of David my servant, in whom I took delight because he kept my orders and my laws.
35. But I will take the kingdom from his son, and give it to you.
36. And one tribe I will give to his son, so that David my servant may have a light for ever burning before me in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine to put my name there.
37. And you I will take, and you will be king over Israel, ruling over whatever is the desire of your soul.
38. And if you give attention to the orders I give you, walking in my ways and doing what is right in my eyes and keeping my laws and my orders as David my servant did; then I will be with you, building up for you a safe house, as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you.
39. (So that I may send trouble for this on the seed of David, but not for ever.)
40. And Solomon was looking for a chance to put Jeroboam to death; but he went in flight to Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt, and was in Egypt till the death of Solomon.
41. Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all he did, and his wisdom, are they not recorded in the book of the acts of Solomon?
42. And the time Solomon was king in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
43. And Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father: and Solomon went to rest with his fathers and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.

John 12 / Basic English

1. Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had made to come back from the dead.
2. So they made him a meal there, and he was waited on by Martha, and Lazarus was among those who were seated with him at table.
3. Then Mary, taking a pound of perfumed oil of great value, put it on the feet of Jesus and made them dry with her hair: and the house became full of the smell of the perfume.
4. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was to give him up), said,
5. Why was not this perfume traded for three hundred pence, and the money given to the poor?
6. (He said this, not because he had any love for the poor; but because he was a thief, and, having the money-bag, took for himself what was put into it.)
7. Then Jesus said, Let her be. Let her keep what she has for the day of my death.
8. The poor you have ever with you, but me you have not for ever.
9. Then a great number of the Jews had news that he was there: and they came, not only because of Jesus, but so that they might see Lazarus who had been dead and to whom he had given life.
10. Now there was talk among the chief priests of putting Lazarus to death;
11. For because of him a great number of the Jews went away and had belief in Jesus.
12. The day after, a great number of people who were there for the feast, when they had the news that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
13. Took branches of palm-trees and went out to him, crying, A blessing on him who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!
14. And Jesus saw a young ass and took his seat on it; as the Writings say,
15. Have no fear, daughter of Zion: see your King is coming, seated on a young ass.
16. (These things were not clear to his disciples at first: but when Jesus had been lifted up into his glory, then it came to their minds that these things in the Writings were about him and that they had been done to him.)
17. Now the people who were with him when his voice came to Lazarus in the place of the dead, and gave him life again, had been talking about it.
18. And that was the reason the people went out to him, because it had come to their ears that he had done this sign.
19. Then the Pharisees said one to another, You see, you are unable to do anything: the world has gone after him.
20. Now there were some Greeks among the people who had come up to give worship at the feast:
21. They came to Philip, who was of Beth-saida in Galilee, and made a request, saying, Sir, we have a desire to see Jesus.
22. Philip went and gave word of it to Andrew; and Andrew went with Philip to Jesus.
23. And Jesus said to them in answer, The hour of the glory of the Son of man has come.
24. Truly I say to you, If a seed of grain does not go into the earth and come to an end, it is still a seed and no more; but through its death it gives much fruit.
25. He who is in love with life will have it taken from him; and he who has no care for his life in this world will keep it for ever and ever.
26. If any man is my servant, let him come after me; and where I am, there will my servant be. If any man becomes my servant, my Father will give him honour.
27. Now is my soul troubled; and what am I to say? Father, keep me from this hour. No: for this purpose have I come to this hour.
28. Father, give glory to your name. Then there came a voice out of heaven, saying, I have given it glory, and I will give it glory again.
29. Hearing the sound, a number of people who were there said that it was thunder: others said, An angel was talking to him.
30. Jesus said in answer, This voice came not for me but for you.
31. Now is this world to be judged: now will the ruler of this world be sent out.
32. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will make all men come to me.
33. (This he said, pointing to the sort of death he would have.)
34. Then the people in answer said to him, The law says that the Christ will have life without end: how say you then that it is necessary for the Son of man to be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?
35. Jesus said to them, For a little time longer the light will be among you; while you have the light go on walking in it, so that the dark may not overtake you: one walking in the dark has no knowledge of where he is going.
36. In so far as you have the light, put your faith in the light so that you may become sons of light. With these words Jesus went away and for a time was not seen again by them.
37. But though he had done such a number of signs before them, they still had no belief in him:
38. So that the words of the prophet Isaiah might come true, when he said, Lord, who has any belief in our preaching? and the arm of the Lord, to whom has it been unveiled?
39. For this reason they were unable to have belief, because Isaiah said again,
40. He has made their eyes blind, and their hearts hard; for fear that they might see with their eyes and get knowledge with their hearts, and be changed, and I might make them well.
41. (Isaiah said these words because he saw his glory. His words were about him.)
42. However, a number even of the rulers had belief in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not say so openly for fear that they might be shut out from the Synagogue:
43. For the praise of men was dearer to them than the approval of God.
44. Then Jesus said with a loud voice, He who has faith in me, has faith not in me, but in him who sent me.
45. And he who sees me, sees him who sent me.
46. I have come as a light into the world, so that no one who has faith in me will go on living in the dark.
47. And if any man gives ear to my words and does not keep them, I am not his judge: I did not come to be judge of the world but to give salvation to the world.
48. He who puts me on one side and does not take my words to heart, is not without a judge: the word which I have said will be his judge on the last day.
49. For I have not said it on my authority, but the Father who sent me gave me orders what to say and how to say it.
50. And I have knowledge that his order is eternal life: so that the things which I say, I say them even as the Father says them to me.