Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

1 Kings (3 Kings) 16 / Basic English

1. And the word of the Lord came to Jehu, son of Hanani, protesting against Baasha and saying,
2. Because I took you up out of the dust, and made you ruler over my people Israel; and you have gone in the ways of Jeroboam, and made my people Israel do evil, moving me to wrath by their sins;
3. Truly, I will see that Baasha and all his family are completely brushed away; I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
4. Anyone of the family of Baasha who comes to death in the town, will become food for the dogs; and he to whom death comes in the open country, will be food for the birds of the air.
5. Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
6. And Baasha went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth at Tirzah; and Elah his son became king in his place.
7. And the Lord sent his word against Baasha and his family by the mouth of the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, because of all the evil he did in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath by the work of his hands, because he was like the family of Jeroboam, and because he put it to death.
8. In the twenty-sixth year that Asa was king of Judah, Elah, the son of Baasha, became king of Israel in Tirzah, and he was king for two years.
9. And his servant Zimri, captain of half his war-carriages, made secret designs against him: now he was in Tirzah, drinking hard in the house of Arza, controller of the king's house in Tirzah.
10. And Zimri went in and made an attack on him and put him to death, in the twenty-seventh year that Asa was king of Judah, and made himself king in his place.
11. And straight away when he became king and took his place on the seat of the kingdom, he put to death all the family of Baasha: not one male child of his relations or his friends kept his life.
12. So Zimri put to death all the family of Baasha, so that the word which the Lord said against him by the mouth of Jehu the prophet came about;
13. Because of all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they did and made Israel do, moving the Lord, the God of Israel, to wrath by their foolish acts.
14. Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
15. In the twenty-seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri was king for seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were attacking Gibbethon in the land of the Philistines.
16. And news came to the people in the tents that Zimri had made a secret design and had put the king to death: so all Israel made Omri, the captain of the army, king that day in the tents.
17. Then Omri went up from Gibbethon, with all the army of Israel, and they made an attack on Tirzah, shutting in the town on every side.
18. And when Zimri saw that the town was taken, he went into the inner room of the king's house, and burning the house over his head, came to his end,
19. Because of his sin in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, in going in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel do.
20. Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the secret design he made, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
21. Then there was a division among the people of Israel; half the people were for making Tibni, son of Ginath, king, and half were supporting Omri.
22. But the supporters of Omri overcame those who were on the side of Tibni, the son of Ginath; and death came to Tibni and to his brother Joram at that time: and Omri became king in the place of Tibni.
23. In the thirty-first year of Asa, king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and he was king for twelve years; for six years he was ruling in Tirzah.
24. He got the hill Samaria from Shemer for the price of two talents of silver, and he made a town there, building it on the hill and naming it Samaria, after Shemer the owner of the hill.
25. And Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, even worse than all those before him,
26. Copying all the evil ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and all the sins he did and made Israel do, moving the Lord, the God of Israel, to wrath by their foolish ways.
27. Now the rest of the acts which Omri did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
28. So Omri went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria; and Ahab his son became king in his place.
29. In the thirty-eighth year that Asa was king of Judah, Ahab, the son of Omri, became king over Israel; and Ahab was king in Samaria for twenty-two years.
30. And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, even worse than all who went before him.
31. And as if copying the evil ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was a small thing for him, he took as his wife Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Zidon, and became a servant and worshipper of Baal.
32. And he put up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he had made in Samaria.
33. And Ahab made an image of Asherah and did more than all the kings of Israel before him to make the Lord, the God of Israel, angry.
34. In his days Hiel made Jericho; he put its base in position at the price of Abiram, his oldest son, and he put its doors in place at the price of his youngest son Segub; even as the Lord had said by Joshua, the son of Nun.

1 Kings (3 Kings) 17 / Basic English

1. And Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, By the living Lord, the God of Israel, whose servant I am, there will be no dew or rain in these years, but only at my word.
2. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
3. Go from here in the direction of the east, and keep yourself in a secret place by the stream Cherith, east of Jordan.
4. The water of the stream will be your drink, and by my orders the ravens will give you food there.
5. So he went and did as the Lord said, living by the stream Cherith, east of Jordan.
6. And the ravens took him bread in the morning and meat in the evening; and the water of the stream was his drink.
7. Now after a time the stream became dry, because there was no rain in the land.
8. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
9. Up! go now to Zarephath, in Zidon, and make your living-place there; I have given orders to a widow woman there to see that you have food.
10. So he got up and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the door of the town, he saw a widow woman getting sticks together; and crying out to her he said, Will you give me a little water in a vessel for my drink?
11. And when she was going to get it, he said to her, And get me with it a small bit of bread.
12. Then she said, By the life of the Lord your God, I have nothing but a little meal in my store, and a drop of oil in the bottle; and now I am getting two sticks together so that I may go in and make it ready for me and my son, so that we may have a meal before our death.
13. And Elijah said to her, Have no fear; go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and come and give it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.
14. For this is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: The store of meal will not come to an end, and the bottle will never be without oil, till the day when the Lord sends rain on the earth.
15. So she went and did as Elijah said; and she and he and her family had food for a long time.
16. The store of meal did not come to an end, and the bottle was never without oil, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Elijah.
17. Now after this, the son of the woman of the house became ill, so ill that there was no breath in him.
18. And she said to Elijah, What have I to do with you, O man of God? have you come to put God in mind of my sin, and to put my son to death?
19. And he said to her, Give your son to me. And lifting him out of her arms, he took him up to his room and put him down on his bed.
20. And crying to the Lord he said, O Lord my God, have you sent evil even on the widow whose guest I am, by causing her son's death?
21. And stretching herself out on the child three times, he made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord my God, be pleased to let this child's life come back to him again.
22. And the Lord gave ear to the voice of Elijah, and the child's spirit came into him again, and he came back to life.
23. And Elijah took the child down from his room into the house and gave him to his mother and said to her, See, your son is living.
24. Then the woman said to Elijah, Now I am certain that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true.

John 15 / Basic English

1. I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.
2. He takes away every branch in me which has no fruit, and every branch which has fruit he makes clean, so that it may have more fruit.
3. You are clean, even now, through the teaching which I have given you.
4. Be in me at all times as I am in you. As the branch is not able to give fruit of itself, if it is not still on the vine, so you are not able to do so if you are not in me.
5. I am the vine, you are the branches: he who is in me at all times as I am in him, gives much fruit, because without me you are able to do nothing.
6. If a man does not keep himself in me, he becomes dead and is cut off like a dry branch; such branches are taken up and put in the fire and burned.
7. If you are in me at all times, and my words are in you, then anything for which you make a request will be done for you.
8. Here is my Father's glory, in that you give much fruit and so are my true disciples.
9. Even as the Father has given me his love, so I have given my love to you: be ever in my love.
10. If you keep my laws, you will be ever in my love, even as I have kept my Father's laws, and am ever in his love.
11. I have said these things to you so that I may have joy in you and so that your joy may be complete.
12. This is the law I give you: Have love one for another, even as I have love for you.
13. Greater love has no man than this, that a man gives up his life for his friends.
14. You are my friends, if you do what I give you orders to do.
15. No longer do I give you the name of servants; because a servant is without knowledge of what his master is doing: I give you the name of friends, because I have given you knowledge of all the things which my Father has said to me.
16. You did not take me for yourselves, but I took you for myself; and I gave you the work of going about and producing fruit which will be for ever; so that whatever request you make to the Father in my name he may give it to you.
17. So this is my law for you: Have love one for another.
18. If you are hated by the world, keep in mind that I was hated by the world before you.
19. If you were of the world, you would be loved by the world: but because you are not of the world, but I have taken you out of the world, you are hated by the world.
20. Keep in mind the words I said to you, A servant is not greater than his lord. If they were cruel to me, they will be cruel to you; if they kept my words, they will keep yours.
21. They will do all this to you because of my name--because they have no knowledge of him who sent me.
22. If I had not come and been their teacher they would have had no sin: but now they have no reason to give for their sin.
23. He who has hate for me has hate for my Father.
24. If I had not done among them the works which no other man ever did, they would have had no sin: but now they have seen, and they have had hate in their hearts for me and my Father.
25. This comes about so that the writing in their law may be made true, Their hate for me was without cause.
26. When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of true knowledge who comes from the Father--he will give witness about me;
27. And you, in addition, will give witness because you have been with me from the first.