Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Kings (4 Kings) 5 / Basic English

1. Now Naaman, chief of the army of the king of Aram, was a man of high position with his master, and greatly respected, because by him the Lord had given salvation to Aram; but he was a leper.
2. Now the Aramaeans had gone out in bands, and taken prisoner from Israel a little girl, who became servant to Naaman's wife.
3. And she said to her master's wife, If only my lord would go to the prophet in Samaria, he would make him well.
4. And someone went and said to his lord, This is what the girl from the land of Israel says.
5. So the king of Aram said, Go then; and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he went, taking with him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
6. And he took the letter to the king of Israel, in which the king of Aram had said, See, I have sent my servant Naaman to you to be made well, for he is a leper.
7. But the king of Israel, after reading the letter, was greatly troubled and said, Am I God, to give death and life? why does this man send a leper to me to be made well? is it not clear that he is looking for a cause of war?
8. Now Elisha, the man of God, hearing that the king of Israel had done this, sent to the king, saying, Why are you troubled? send the man to me, so that he may see that there is a prophet in Israel.
9. So Naaman, with all his horses and his carriages, came to the door of Elisha's house.
10. And Elisha sent a servant to him, saying, Go to Jordan, and after washing seven times in its waters your flesh will be well again and you will be clean.
11. But Naaman was angry and went away and said, I had the idea that he would come out to see such an important person as I am, and make prayer to the Lord his God, and with a wave of his hand over the place make the leper well.
12. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not be washed in them and become clean? So turning, he went away in wrath.
13. Then his servants came to him and said, If the prophet had given you orders to do some great thing, would you not have done it? how much more then, when he says to you, Be washed and become clean?
14. Then he went down seven times into the waters of Jordan, as the man of God had said; and his flesh became like the flesh of a little child again, and he was clean.
15. Then he went back to the man of God, with all his train, and, taking his place before him, said, Now I am certain that there is no God in all the earth, but only in Israel: now then, take an offering from me.
16. But he said, By the life of the Lord whose servant I am, I will take nothing from you. And he did his best to make him take it but he would not.
17. Then Naaman said, If you will not, then let there be given to your servant as much earth as two beasts are able to take on their backs; because from now on, your servant will make no offering or burned offering to other gods, but only to the Lord.
18. But may your servant have the Lord's forgiveness for this one thing: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon for worship there, supported on my arm, and my head is bent in the house of Rimmon; when his head is bent in the house of Rimmon, may your servant have the Lord's forgiveness for this thing.
19. And he said to him, Go in peace. And he went from him some distance.
20. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Now my master has taken nothing from Naaman, this Aramaean, of what he would have given him: by the living Lord, I will go after him and get something from him.
21. So Gehazi went after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from his carriage and went back to him and said, Is all well?
22. And he said, All is well: but my master has sent me, saying, Even now, two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim; will you give me a talent of silver and two changes of clothing for them?
23. And Naaman said, Be good enough to take two talents. And forcing him to take them, he put two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and gave them to his two servants to take before him.
24. When he came to the hill, he took them from their hands, and put them away in the house; and he sent the men away, and they went.
25. Then he came in and took his place before his master. And Elisha said to him, Where have you come from, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant went nowhere.
26. And he said to him, Did not my heart go with you, when the man got down from his carriage and went back to you? Is this a time for getting money, and clothing, and olive-gardens and vine-gardens, and sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants?
27. Because of what you have done, the disease of Naaman the leper will take you in its grip, and your seed after you, for ever. And he went out from before him a leper as white as snow.

2 Kings (4 Kings) 6 / Basic English

1. Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, There is not room enough for us in the place where we are living under your care;
2. So let us go to Jordan, and let everyone get to work cutting boards, and we will make a living-place for ourselves there. And he said to them, Go, then.
3. And one of them said, Be pleased to go with your servants. And he said, I will go.
4. So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they got to work cutting down trees.
5. But one of them, while cutting a board, let the head of his axe go into the water; and he gave a cry, and said, This is a bad business, my master, for it is another's.
6. And the man of God said, Where did it go in? and when he saw the place where it had gone into the water, cutting a stick, he put it into the water, and the iron came up to the top of the water.
7. Then he said, Take it up. So he put out his hand and took it.
8. At that time the king of Aram was making war against Israel; and he had a meeting with the chiefs of his army and said, I will be waiting in secret in some named place.
9. And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Take care to keep away from that place, for the Aramaeans are waiting there in secret.
10. So the king of Israel sent to the place where the man of God had said there was danger, and kept clear of it more than once.
11. And at this, the mind of the king of Aram was greatly troubled, and he sent for his servants and said to them, Will you not make clear to me which of us is helping the king of Israel?
12. And one of them said, Not one of us, my lord king; but Elisha, the prophet in Israel, gives the king of Israel news of the words you say even in your bedroom.
13. Then he said, Go and see where he is, so that I may send and get him. And news came to him that he was in Dothan.
14. So he sent there horses and carriages and a great army; and they came by night, circling the town.
15. Now the servant of the man of God, having got up early and gone out, saw an army with horses and carriages of war all round the town. And the servant said to him, O my master, what are we to do?
16. And he said in answer, Have no fear; those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
17. Then Elisha made a prayer to the Lord, saying, Lord, let his eyes be open so that he may see. And the Lord made the young man's eyes open; and he saw that all the mountain was full of horses and carriages of fire round Elisha.
18. Now when the Aramaeans came down to Elisha, he made a prayer to the Lord saying, Lord, make this people blind. And he made them blind at Elisha's request.
19. And Elisha said to them, This is not the way, and this is not the town: come after me so that I may take you to the man you are searching for. And he took them to Samaria.
20. And when they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, Lord, let the eyes of these men be open so that they may see. And the Lord made their eyes open, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.
21. And the king of Israel, when he saw them, said to Elisha, My father, am I to put them to the sword?
22. But he said in answer, You are not to put them to death; have you any right to put to death those whom you have not taken prisoner with your sword and your bow? put bread and water before them, so that they may have food and drink and go to their master.
23. So he made ready a great feast for them, and when they had had food and drink, he sent them away and they went back to their master. And no more bands of Aramaeans came into the land of Israel.
24. Now after this, Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got together all his army and went up to make an attack on Samaria, shutting the town in on all sides with his forces.
25. And they became very short of food in Samaria; for they kept it shut in till the price of an ass's head was eighty shekels of silver, and a small measure of doves' droppings was five shekels of silver.
26. And when the king of Israel was going by on the wall, a woman came crying out to him, and said, Help! my lord king.
27. And he said, If the Lord does not give you help, where am I to get help for you? from the grain-floor or the grape-crusher?
28. And the king said to her, What is troubling you? And she said in answer, This woman said to me, Give your son to be our food today, and we will have my son tomorrow.
29. So, boiling my son, we had a meal of him; and on the day after I said to her, Now give your son for our food; but she has put her son in a secret place.
30. Then the king, hearing what the woman said, took his robes in his hands, violently parting them; and, while he was walking on the wall, the people, looking, saw that under his robe he had haircloth on his flesh.
31. Then he said, May God's punishment come on me if Elisha, the son of Shaphat, keeps his head on his body after this day.
32. But Elisha was in his house, and the responsible men were seated there with him; and before the king got there, Elisha said to those who were with him, Do you see how this cruel and violent man has sent to take away my life?
33. While he was still talking to them, the king came down and said, This evil is from the Lord; why am I to go on waiting any longer for the Lord?

John 21 / Basic English

1. After these things Jesus let himself be seen again by the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and it came about in this way.
2. Simon Peter, Thomas named Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were all together.
3. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, And we will come with you. They went out and got into the boat; but that night they took no fish.
4. Now very early in the morning Jesus was there by the edge of the sea (though the disciples were not conscious that it was Jesus).
5. So Jesus said to them, Children, have you taken any fish? They made answer, No.
6. And he said to them, Let down the net on the right side of the boat and you will get some. So they put it in the water and now they were not able to get it up again because of the great number of fish.
7. So the disciple who was dear to Jesus said to Peter, It is the Lord! Hearing that it was the Lord, Peter put his coat round him (because he was not clothed) and went into the sea.
8. And the other disciples came in the little boat (they were not far from land, only about two hundred cubits off) pulling the net full of fish.
9. When they got to land, they saw a fire of coals there, with fish cooking on it, and bread.
10. Jesus said to them, Get some of the fish which you have now taken.
11. So Peter went to the boat and came back pulling the net to land, full of great fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and though there was such a number the net was not broken.
12. Jesus said to them, Come and take some food. And all the disciples were in fear of putting the question, Who are you? being conscious that it was the Lord.
13. Then Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish in the same way.
14. Now this was the third time that Jesus let himself be seen by the disciples after he had come back from the dead.
15. Then when they had taken food, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, is your love for me greater than the love of these others? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you are certain of my love for you. He said to him, Then give my lambs food.
16. Again, a second time, he said to him, Simon, son of John, have you any love for me? Yes, Lord, he said, you are certain of my love for you. Then take care of my sheep, said Jesus.
17. He said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, am I dear to you? Now Peter was troubled in his heart because he put the question a third time, Am I dear to you? And he said to him, Lord, you have knowledge of all things; you see that you are dear to me. Jesus said to him, Then give my sheep food.
18. Truly I say to you, When you were young, you made yourself ready and went wherever you had a desire to go: but when you are old, you will put out your hands and another will make you ready, and you will be taken where you have no desire to go.
19. Now this he said, pointing out the sort of death by which he would give God glory. And after saying this, he said to him, Come after me.
20. Then Peter, turning round, saw the disciple who was dear to Jesus coming after them--the disciple who was resting on his breast at the last meal, and said, Lord, who is it who will be false to you?
21. Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, What about this man?
22. Jesus said to him, If it is my desire for him to be here till I come back, what is that to you? come yourself after me.
23. So this saying went about among the brothers that this disciple would not undergo death: Jesus, however, did not say that he would not undergo death, but, If it is my desire for him to be here till I come back, what is that to you?
24. This is the disciple who gives witness about these things and who put them in writing: and we have knowledge that his witness is true.
25. And Jesus did such a number of other things that, if every one was recorded, it is my opinion that even the world itself is not great enough for the books there would be.