Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

1 Kings (3 Kings) 19 / Basic English

1. Ahab gave Jezebel news of all Elijah had done, and how he had put all the prophets to death with the sword.
2. Then Jezebel sent a servant to Elijah, saying, May the gods' punishment be on me if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
3. And he got up, fearing for his life, and went in flight, and came to Beer-sheba in Judah, parting there from his servant;
4. While he himself went a day's journey into the waste land, and took a seat under a broom-plant, desiring for himself only death; for he said, It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.
5. And stretching himself on the earth, he went to sleep under the broom-plant; but an angel, touching him, said to him, Get up and have some food.
6. And looking up, he saw by his head a cake cooked on the stones and a bottle of water. So he took food and drink and went to sleep again.
7. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time, and touching him said, Get up and have some food, or the journey will be overmuch for your strength.
8. So he got up and took food and drink, and in the strength of that food he went on for forty days and nights, to Horeb, the mountain of God.
9. And there he went into a hole in the rock for the night; then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, What are you doing here, Elijah?
10. And he said, I have been burning for the honour of the Lord, the God of armies; for the children of Israel have not kept your agreement; they have made destruction of your altars, and have put your prophets to death with the sword: till I, even I, am the only one living; and now they are attempting to take away my life.
11. Then he said, Go out and take your place on the mountain before the Lord. Then the Lord went by, and mountains were parted by the force of a great wind, and rocks were broken before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earth-shock, but the Lord was not in the earth-shock.
12. And after the earth-shock a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a soft breath.
13. And Elijah, hearing it, went out, covering his face with his robe, and took his place in the opening of the hole. And there a voice came to him saying, What are you doing here, Elijah?
14. And he said, I have been burning for the honour of the Lord, the God of armies; for the children of Israel have not kept your agreement; they have had your altars broken down, and have put your prophets to death with the sword: till I, even I, am the only one living; and now they are attempting to take away my life.
15. And the Lord said to him, Go back on your way through the waste land to Damascus; and when you come there, put the holy oil on Hazael to make him king over Aram;
16. And on Jehu, son of Nimshi, making him king over Israel; and on Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, to be prophet in your place.
17. And it will come about that the man who gets away safe from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will put to death; and whoever gets away safe from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will put to death.
18. But I will keep safe seven thousand in Israel, all those whose knees have not been bent to Baal, and whose mouths have given him no kisses.
19. So he went away from there and came across Elisha, the son of Shaphat, ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, he himself walking with the twelfth; and Elijah went up to him and put his robe on him.
20. And letting the oxen be where they were, he came running after Elijah, and said, Only let me give a kiss to my father and mother, and then I will come after you. But he said to him, Go back again; for what have I done to you?
21. And he went back, and took the oxen and put them to death, and cooking their flesh with the yokes of the oxen, he gave the people a feast. Then he got up and went after Elijah and became his servant.

1 Kings (3 Kings) 20 / Basic English

1. Now Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got all his army together, and thirty-two kings with him, and horses and carriages of war; he went up and made war on Samaria, shutting it in.
2. And he sent representatives into the town to Ahab, king of Israel;
3. And they said to him, Ben-hadad says, Your silver and your gold are mine; and your wives and children are mine.
4. And the king of Israel sent him an answer saying, As you say, my lord king, I am yours with all I have.
5. Then the representatives came back again, and said, These are the words of Ben-hadad: I sent to you saying, Give up to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children;
6. But I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, to make a search through your house and the houses of your people, and everything which is pleasing in your eyes they will take away in their hands.
7. Then the king of Israel sent for all the responsible men of the land, and said, Now will you take note and see the evil purpose of this man: he sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, and I did not keep them back.
8. And all the responsible men and the people said to him, Do not give attention to him or do what he says.
9. So he said to the representatives of Ben-hadad, Say to my lord the king, All the orders you sent the first time I will do; but this thing I may not do. And the representatives went back with this answer.
10. Then Ben-hadad sent to him, saying, May the gods' punishment be on me if there is enough of the dust of Samaria for all the people at my feet to take some in their hands.
11. And the king of Israel said in answer, Say to him, The time for loud talk is not when a man is putting on his arms, but when he is taking them off.
12. Now when this answer was given to Ben-hadad, he was drinking with the kings in the tents, and he said to his men, Take up your positions. So they put themselves in position for attacking the town.
13. Then a prophet came up to Ahab, king of Israel, and said, The Lord says, Have you seen all this great army? See, I will give it into your hands today, and you will see that I am the Lord.
14. And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, The Lord says, By the servants of the chiefs who are over the divisions of the land. Then he said, By whom is the fighting to be started? And he made answer, By you.
15. Then he got together the servants of all the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land, two hundred and thirty-two of them; and after them, he got together all the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand.
16. And in the middle of the day they went out. But Ben-hadad was drinking in the tents with the thirty-two kings who were helping him.
17. And the servants of the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land went forward first; and when Ben-hadad sent out, they gave him the news, saying, Men have come out from Samaria.
18. And he said, If they have come out for peace, take them living, and if they have come out for war, take them living.
19. So the servants of the chiefs of the divisions of the land went out of the town, with the army coming after them.
20. And every one of them put his man to death, and the Aramaeans went in flight with Israel after them; and Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got away safely on a horse with his horsemen.
21. And the king of Israel went out and took the horses and the war-carriages, and made great destruction among the Aramaeans.
22. Then the prophet came up to the king of Israel, and said to him, Now make yourself strong, and take care what you do, or a year from now the king of Aram will come up against you again.
23. Then the king of Aram's servants said to him, Their god is a god of the hills; that is why they were stronger than we: but if we make an attack on them in the lowlands, we will certainly be stronger than they.
24. This is what you have to do: take away the kings from their positions, and put captains in their places;
25. And get together another army like the one which came to destruction, horse for horse, and carriage for carriage; and let us make war on them in the lowlands, and certainly we will be stronger than they. And he gave ear to what they said, and did so.
26. So, a year later, Ben-hadad got the Aramaeans together and went up to Aphek to make war on Israel.
27. And the children of Israel got themselves together, and food was made ready and they went against them; the tents of the children of Israel were like two little flocks of goats before them, but all the country was full of the Aramaeans.
28. And a man of God came up and said to the king of Israel, The Lord says, Because the Aramaeans have said, The Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys; I will give all this great army into your hands, and you will see that I am the Lord.
29. Now the two armies kept their positions facing one another for seven days. And on the seventh day the fight was started; and the children of Israel put to the sword a hundred thousand Aramaean footmen in one day.
30. But the rest went in flight to Aphek, into the town, where a wall came down on the twenty-seven thousand who were still living. And Ben-hadad went in flight into the town, into an inner room.
31. Then his servants said to him, It is said that the kings of Israel are full of mercy: let us then put on haircloth, and cords on our heads, and go to the king of Israel; it may be that he will give you your life.
32. So they put on haircloth, and cords on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant Ben-hadad says, Let me now keep my life. And he said, Is he still living? he is my brother.
33. Now the men took it as a sign, and quickly took up his words; and they said, Ben-hadad is your brother. Then he said, Go and get him. So Ben-hadad came out to him and he made him get up into his carriage.
34. And Ben-hadad said to him, The towns my father took from your father I will give back; and you may make streets for yourself in Damascus as my father did in Samaria. And as for me, at the price of this agreement you will let me go. So he made an agreement with him and let him go.
35. And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbour by the word of the Lord, Give me a wound. But the man would not.
36. Then he said to him, Because you have not given ear to the voice of the Lord, straight away when you have gone from me a lion will put you to death. And when he had gone, straight away a lion came rushing at him and put him to death.
37. Then he came across another man, and said, Give me a wound. And the man gave him a blow wounding him.
38. So the prophet went away, and pulling his head-band over his eyes to keep his face covered, took his place by the road waiting for the king.
39. And when the king went by, crying out to him he said, Your servant went out into the fight; and a man came out to me with another man and said, Keep this man: if by any chance he gets away, your life will be the price of his life, or you will have to give a talent of silver in payment.
40. But while your servant was turning this way and that, he was gone. Then the king of Israel said to him, You are responsible; you have given the decision against yourself.
41. Then he quickly took the head-band from his eyes; and the king of Israel saw that he was one of the prophets.
42. And he said to him, These are the words of the Lord: Because you have let go from your hands the man whom I had put to the curse, your life will be taken for his life, and your people for his people.
43. Then the king of Israel went back to his house, bitter and angry, and came to Samaria.

John 17 / Basic English

1. Jesus said these things; then, lifting his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the time has now come; give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you:
2. Even as you gave him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all those whom you have given to him.
3. And this is eternal life: to have knowledge of you, the only true God, and of him whom you have sent, even Jesus Christ.
4. I have given you glory on the earth, having done all the work which you gave me to do.
5. And now, Father, let me have glory with you, even that glory which I had with you before the world was.
6. I have given knowledge of your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world: yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your words.
7. Now it is clear to them that whatever you have given to me comes from you:
8. Because I have given them the words which you gave to me; and they have taken them to heart, and have certain knowledge that I came from you, and they have faith that you sent me.
9. My prayer is for them: my prayer is not for the world, but for those whom you have given to me, because they are yours
10. (All mine are yours, and yours are mine) and I have glory in them.
11. And now I will be no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I come to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given to me, so that they may be one even as we are one.
12. While I was with them I kept them safe in your name which you have given to me: I took care of them and not one of them has come to destruction, but only the son of destruction, so that the Writings might come true.
13. And now I come to you; and these things I say in the world so that they may have my joy complete in them.
14. I have given your word to them; and they are hated by the world, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15. My prayer is not that you will take them out of the world, but that you will keep them from the Evil One.
16. They are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
17. Make them holy by the true word: your word is the true word.
18. Even as you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19. And for them I make myself holy, so that they may be made truly holy.
20. My prayer is not for them only, but for all who will have faith in me through their word;
21. May they all be one! Even as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, so let them be in us, so that all men may come to have faith that you sent me.
22. And the glory which you have given to me I have given to them, so that they may be one even as we are one;
23. I in them, and you in me, so that they may be made completely one, and so that it may become clear to all men that you have sent me and that they are loved by you as I am loved by you.
24. Father, it is my desire that these whom you have given to me may be by my side where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given to me, because you had love for me before the world came into being.
25. Father of righteousness, I have knowledge of you, though the world has not; and to these it is clear that you sent me;
26. And I have given to them knowledge of your name, and will give it, so that the love which you have for me may be in them and I in them.