Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Kings (4 Kings) 1 / Basic English

1. After the death of Ahab, Moab made itself free from the authority of Israel.
2. Now Ahaziah had a fall from the window of his room in Samaria, and was ill. And he sent men, and said to them, Put a question to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, about the outcome of my disease, to see if I will get well or not.
3. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Go now, and, meeting the men sent by the king of Samaria, say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you are going to get directions from Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?
4. Give ear then to the words of the Lord: You will never again get down from the bed on to which you have gone up, but death will certainly come to you. Then Elijah went away.
5. And the men he had sent came back to the king; and he said to them, Why have you come back?
6. And they said to him, On our way we had a meeting with a man who said, Go back to the king who sent you and say to him, The Lord says, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you send to put a question to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? For this reason, you will not come down from the bed on to which you have gone up, but death will certainly come to you.
7. And he said to them, What sort of a man was it who came and said these words to you?
8. And they said in answer, He was a man clothed in a coat of hair, with a leather band about his body. Then he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.
9. Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men; and he went up to him where he was seated on the top of a hill, and said to him, O man of God, the king has said, Come down.
10. And Elijah in answer said to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven on you and on your fifty men, and put an end to you. Then fire came down from heaven and put an end to him and his fifty men.
11. Then the king sent another captain of fifty with his fifty men; and he said to Elijah, O man of God, the king says, Come down quickly.
12. And Elijah in answer said, If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven on you and on your fifty men, and put an end to you. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and put an end to him and his fifty men.
13. Then he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men; and the third captain of fifty went up, and falling on his knees before Elijah, requesting mercy of him, said, O man of God, let my life and the life of these your fifty servants be of value to you.
14. For fire came down from heaven and put an end to the first two captains of fifty and their fifties; but now let my life be of value in your eyes.
15. Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, Go down with him; have no fear of him. So he got up and went down with him to the king.
16. And he said to him, This is the word of the Lord: Because you sent men to put a question to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, for this reason you will never again get down from the bed on to which you have gone up, but death will certainly come to you.
17. So death came to him, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Elijah. And Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of the rule of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; because he had no son.
18. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?

2 Kings (4 Kings) 2 / Basic English

1. Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a great wind, Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
2. And Elijah said to Elisha, Come no farther for the Lord has sent me to Beth-el. But Elisha said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not be parted from you. So they went down to Beth-el.
3. And at Beth-el the sons of the prophets came out to Elisha and said, Has it been made clear to you that the Lord is going to take away your master from over you today? And he said, Yes, I have knowledge of it: say no more.
4. Then Elijah said to him, Come no farther, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not be parted from you. So they went on to Jericho.
5. And at Jericho the sons of the prophets came up to Elisha and said to him, Has it been made clear to you that the Lord is going to take away your master from over you today? And he said in answer, Yes, I have knowledge of it: say no more.
6. Then Elijah said to him, Come no farther, for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. But he said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not be parted from you. So they went on together.
7. And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went out and took their places facing them a long way off, while the two of them were by the edge of Jordan.
8. Then Elijah took off his robe, and, rolling it up, gave the water a blow with it, and the waters were parted, flowing back this way and that, so that they went over on dry land.
9. And when they had come to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, Say what you would have me do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, Be pleased to let a special measure of your spirit be on me.
10. And he said, You have made a hard request: still, if you see me when I am taken from you, you will get your desire; but if not, it will not be so.
11. And while they went on their way, going on talking together, suddenly there were carriages and horses of fire separating them from one another and Elijah went up to heaven in a great wind.
12. And when Elisha saw it he gave a cry, My father, my father, the carriages of Israel and its horsemen! And he saw him no longer; and he was full of grief.
13. Then he took up Elijah's robe, which had been dropped from him, and went back till he came to the edge of Jordan.
14. And he took Elijah's robe, which had been dropped from him, and giving the water a blow with it, said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? and at his blow the waters were parted this way and that; and Elisha went over.
15. And when the sons of the prophets who were facing him at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha. And they came out to him, and went down on the earth before him.
16. And they said, Your servants have with us here fifty strong men; be pleased to let them go in search of Elijah; for it may be that the spirit of the Lord has taken him up and put him down on some mountain or in some valley. But he said, Do not send them.
17. But when they kept on requesting him, he was shamed and said, Send, then. So they sent fifty men; but after searching for three days, they came back without having seen him.
18. And they came back to him, while he was still at Jericho; and he said to them, Did I not say to you, Go not?
19. Now the men of the town said to Elisha, You see that the position of this town is good; but the water is bad, causing the young of the cattle to come to birth dead.
20. So he said, Get me a new vessel, and put salt in it; and they took it to him.
21. Then he went out to the spring from which the water came, and put salt in it, and said, The Lord says, Now I have made this water sweet; no longer will it be death-giving or unfertile.
22. And the water was made sweet again to this day, as Elisha said.
23. Then from there he went up to Beth-el; and on his way, some little boys came out from the town and made sport of him, crying, Go up, old no-hair! go up, old no-hair!
24. And turning back, he saw them, and put a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the wood and put forty-two of the children to death.
25. From there he went to Mount Carmel, and came back from there to Samaria.

John 19 / Basic English

1. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped with cords.
2. And the men of the army made a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him.
3. And they kept coming and saying, Long life to the King of the Jews! And they gave him blows with their hands.
4. And Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I let him come out to you to make it clear to you that I see no wrong in him.
5. Then Jesus came out with the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, Here is the man!
6. So when the chief priests and the police saw him they gave a loud cry, To the cross! to the cross! Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and put him on the cross: I see no crime in him.
7. And the Jews made answer, We have a law, and by that law it is right for him to be put to death because he said he was the Son of God.
8. When this saying came to Pilate's ears his fear became greater;
9. And he went again into the Praetorium and said to Jesus, Where do you come from? But Jesus gave him no answer.
10. Then Pilate said to him, You say nothing to me? is it not clear to you that I have power to let you go free and power to put you to death on the cross?
11. Jesus gave this answer: You would have no power at all over me if it was not given to you by God; so that he who gave me up to you has the greater sin.
12. Hearing this, Pilate had a desire to let him go free, but the Jews said in a loud voice, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend: everyone who makes himself a king goes against Caesar.
13. So when these words came to Pilate's ear, he took Jesus out, seating himself in the judge's seat in a place named in Hebrew, Gabbatha, or the Stone Floor.
14. (It was the day when they made ready for the Passover; and it was about the sixth hour.) And he said to the Jews, There is your King!
15. Then they gave a loud cry, Away with him! away with him! to the cross! Pilate said to them, Am I to put your King to death on the cross? The chief priests said in answer, We have no king but Caesar.
16. So then he gave him up to them to be put to death on the cross. And they took Jesus away;
17. And he went out with his cross on him to the place which is named Dead Man's Head (in Hebrew, Golgotha):
18. Where they put him on the cross with two others, one on this side and one on that, and Jesus in the middle.
19. And Pilate put on the cross a statement in writing. The writing was: JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
20. The writing was seen by a number of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was put to death on the cross was near the town; and the writing was in Hebrew and Latin and Greek.
21. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Do not put, The King of the Jews, but, He said, I am the King of the Jews.
22. But Pilate made answer, What I have put in writing will not be changed.
23. And when Jesus was nailed to the cross, the men of the army took his clothing, and made a division of it into four parts, to every man a part, and they took his coat: now the coat was without a join, made out of one bit of cloth.
24. So they said among themselves, Let this not be cut up, but let us put it to the decision of chance and see who gets it. (They did this so that the Writings might come true, which say, They made a distribution of my clothing among them, and my coat they put to the decision of chance.) This was what the men of the army did.
25. Now by the side of the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26. So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple who was dear to him, he said to his mother, Mother, there is your son!
27. Then he said to the disciple, There is your mother! And from that hour the disciple took her to his house.
28. After this, being conscious that all things had now been done so that the Writings might come true, Jesus said, Give me water.
29. Now there was a vessel ready, full of bitter wine, and they put a sponge full of it on a stick and put it to his mouth.
30. So when Jesus had taken the wine he said, All is done. And with his head bent he gave up his spirit.
31. Now it was the day of getting ready for the Passover, and so that the bodies might not be on the cross on the Sabbath (because the day of that Sabbath was a great day), the Jews made a request to Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
32. So the men of the army came, and the legs of the first were broken and then of the other who was put to death on the cross with Jesus:
33. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was dead by this time, and so his legs were not broken;
34. But one of the men made a wound in his side with a spear, and straight away there came out blood and water.
35. And he who saw it has given witness (and his witness is true; he is certain that what he says is true) so that you may have belief.
36. These things came about so that the Writings might be true, No bone of his body will be broken.
37. And again another verse says, They will see him who was wounded by their spears.
38. After these things, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, made a request to Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate said he might do so. So he went and took away his body.
39. And Nicodemus came (he who had first come to Jesus by night) with a roll of myrrh and aloes mixed, about a hundred pounds.
40. Then they took the body of Jesus, folding linen about it with the spices, as is the way of the Jews when they put the dead to rest.
41. Now there was a garden near the cross, and in the garden a new place for the dead in which no man had ever been put.
42. So they put Jesus there, because it was the Jews' day of getting ready for the Passover, and the place was near.