Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Kings (4 Kings) 9 / Basic English

1. And Elisha the prophet sent for one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Make yourself ready for a journey, and take this bottle of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.
2. And when you get there, go in search of Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi; and go in and make him get up from among his brothers, and take him to an inner room.
3. Then take the bottle and put the oil on his head, and say, The Lord says, I have put the holy oil on you to make you king over Israel. Then, opening the door, go in flight, without waiting.
4. So the young prophet went to Ramoth-gilead.
5. And when he came, he saw the captains of the army seated together; and he said, I have something to say to you, O captain. And Jehu said, To which of us? And he said, To you, O captain.
6. And he got up and went into the house; then he put the holy oil on his head and said to him, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, I have made you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.
7. You are to see that the family of Ahab your master is cut off, so that I may take from Jezebel payment for the blood of my servants the prophets, and for the blood of all the servants of the Lord.
8. For the family of Ahab will come to an end; every male of Ahab's family will be cut off, he who is shut up and he who goes free in Israel.
9. I will make the family of Ahab like that of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and Baasha, the son of Ahijah.
10. And Jezebel will become food for the dogs in the heritage of Jezreel, and there will be no one to put her body into the earth. Then, opening the door, he went in flight.
11. Then Jehu came out again to the servants of his lord, and one said to him, Is all well? why did this man, who is off his head, come to you? And he said to them, You have knowledge of the man and of his talk.
12. And they said, That is not true; now give us his story. Then he said, This is what he said to me: The Lord says, I have made you king over Israel.
13. Then straight away everyone took his robe and put it under him on the top of the steps, and, sounding the horn, they said, Jehu is king.
14. So Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, made designs against Joram. (Now Joram and all the army of Israel were keeping watch on Ramoth-gilead because of Hazael, king of Aram:
15. But King Joram had gone back to Jezreel to get well from the wounds which the Aramaeans had given him when he was fighting against Hazael, king of Aram.) And Jehu said, If this is your purpose, then let no one get away and go out of the town to give news of it in Jezreel.
16. So Jehu got into his carriage and went to Jezreel, for Joram was ill in bed there; and Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come down to see Joram.
17. And the watchman on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu and his band coming, and said, I see a band of people. And Joram said, Send out a horseman to them, and let him say, Is it peace?
18. So a horseman went out to them and said, The king says, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? come after me. And the watchman gave them word, saying, The horseman went up to them, but has not come back.
19. Then he sent out a second horseman, who came up to them and said, The king says, Is it peace? And Jehu said in answer, What have you to do with peace? come after me.
20. And the watchman gave them word, saying, He went up to them and has not come back again; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu, son of Nimshi, for he is driving violently.
21. Then Joram said, Make ready. So they made his carriage ready; and Joram, king of Israel, with Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out in their carriages for the purpose of meeting Jehu; and they came face to face with him at the field of Naboth the Jezreelite.
22. Now when Joram saw Jehu he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he said in answer, What peace is possible while all the land is full of the disgusting sins of your mother Jezebel, and her secret arts?
23. Then Joram, turning his horses in flight, said to Ahaziah, Broken faith, O Ahaziah!
24. Then Jehu took his bow in his hand, and with all his strength sent an arrow, wounding Joram between the arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he went down on his face in his carriage.
25. Then Jehu said to Bidkar, his captain, Take him up, and put him in the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for is not that day in your memory when you and I together on our horses were going after Ahab, his father, and the Lord put this fate on him, saying:
26. I saw the blood of Naboth and of his sons yesterday; and I will give you full payment in this field, says the Lord? So now, take him and put him in this field, as the Lord said.
27. Now when Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw this, he went in flight by the way of the garden house. And Jehu came after him and said, Put him to death in the same way; and they gave him a death-wound in his carriage, on the slope up to Gur, by Ibleam; and he went in flight to Megiddo, where death came to him.
28. And his servants took him in a carriage to Jerusalem, and put him into the earth with his fathers in the town of David.
29. (In the eleventh year of the rule of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah became king over Judah.)
30. And when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel had news of it; and, painting her eyes and dressing her hair with ornaments, she put her head out of the window.
31. And when Jehu was coming into the town, she said, Is all well, O Zimri, taker of your master's life?
32. Then, looking up to the window, he said, Who is on my side, who? and two or three unsexed servants put out their heads.
33. And he said, Take her and put her out of the window. So they sent her down with force, and her blood went in a shower on the wall and on the horses; and she was crushed under their feet.
34. And he came in, and took food and drink; then he said, Now see to this cursed woman, and put her body into the earth, for she is a king's daughter.
35. And they went out to put her body into the earth, but nothing of her was to be seen, only the bones of her head, and her feet, and parts of her hands.
36. So they came back and gave him word of it. And he said, This is what the Lord said by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the heritage of Jezreel the flesh of Jezebel will become food for dogs;
37. And the dead body of Jezebel will be like waste dropped on the face of the earth in the heritage of Jezreel; so that they will not be able to say, This is Jezebel.

2 Kings (4 Kings) 10 / Basic English

1. Now there were in Samaria seventy of Ahab's sons. And Jehu sent letters to Samaria, to the rulers of the town, and to the responsible men, and to those who had the care of the sons of Ahab, saying,
2. Straight away, when you get this letter, seeing that your master's sons are with you, and that you have carriages and horses and a walled town and arms;
3. Take the best and most upright of your master's sons, and make him king in his father's place, and put up a fight for your master's family.
4. But they were full of fear, and said, The two kings have gone down before him: how may we keep our place?
5. So the controller of the king's house, with the ruler of the town, and the responsible men, and those who had the care of Ahab's sons, sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants and will do all your orders; we will not make any man king; do whatever seems best to you.
6. Then he sent them a second letter, saying, If you are on my side, and if you will do my orders, come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow, with the heads of your master's sons. Now the king's seventy sons were with the great men of the town, who had the care of them.
7. And when the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and put them to death, all the seventy, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel.
8. And a man came and said to him, They have come with the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Put them down in two masses at the doorway of the town till the morning.
9. And in the morning he went out and, stopping, said to all the people there, You are upright men: it is true that I made designs against my master, and put him to death; but who is responsible for the death of all these?
10. You may be certain that nothing which the Lord has said about the family of Ahab will be without effect; for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah.
11. So Jehu put to death all the rest of the seed of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his relations and his near friends and his priests, till there were no more of them.
12. Then he got up and came to Samaria. And he was at the meeting-place of the keepers of sheep, by the way,
13. When he came across the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are you? And they said, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, king of Judah; we are going down to see the children of the king and of the queen.
14. And he said, Take them living. So they took them living, and put them to death in the water-hole of Beth-eked; of the forty-two men he put every one to death;
15. And when he had gone away from there, he came across Jehonadab, the son of Rechab: and he said good-day to him, and said to him, Is your heart true to mine, as mine is to yours? And Jehonadab in answer said, It is; and Jehu said, If it is, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand, and he made him come up into his carriage.
16. And he said, Come with me and see how I am on fire for the Lord's cause. So he made him go with him in his carriage.
17. And when he came to Samaria, he put to death all those of Ahab's family who were still in Samaria, till there were no more of them, as the Lord had said to Elijah.
18. Then Jehu got all the people together and said to them, Ahab was Baal's servant in a small way, but Jehu will be his servant on a great scale.
19. Now send for all the prophets of Baal and all his servants and all his priests, to come to me; let no one keep away: for I have a great offering to make to Baal; anyone who is not present, will be put to death. This Jehu did with deceit, his purpose being the destruction of the servants of Baal.
20. And Jehu said, Let there be a special holy meeting for the worship of Baal. So a public statement was made.
21. And Jehu sent out through all Israel; and all the servants of Baal came, not one kept away. And they came into the house of Baal, so that it was full from end to end.
22. And Jehu said to him who kept the robes, Get out robes for all the servants of Baal. So he got out robes for them.
23. And Jehu, with Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, went into the house of Baal; and he said to the servants of Baal, Make a search with care, to see that no servant of the Lord is with you, but only servants of Baal.
24. Then they went in to make offerings and burned offerings. Now Jehu had put eighty men outside, and said to them, If any man whom I give into your hands gets away, the life of him who lets him go will be the price of his life.
25. Then when the burned offering was ended, straight away Jehu said to the armed men and the captains, Go in and put them to death; let not one come out. So they put them to the sword; and, pulling the images to the earth, they went into the holy place of the house of Baal.
26. And they took out the image of Asherah from the house of Baal, and had it burned.
27. The altar of Baal was pulled down and the house of Baal was broken up and made an unclean place, as it is to this day.
28. So Jehu put an end to the worship of Baal in Israel.
29. But Jehu did not keep himself from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and the evil he made Israel do; the gold oxen were still in Beth-el and in Dan.
30. And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have done well in doing what is right in my eyes and effecting all my purpose for the family of Ahab, your sons will be kings of Israel to the fourth generation.
31. But Jehu did not take care to keep the law of the Lord with all his heart: he did not keep himself from the sin which Jeroboam did and made Israel do.
32. In those days the Lord was angry first with Israel; and Hazael made attacks on all the land of Israel,
33. East of Jordan, in all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer by the valley of the Arnon, all Gilead and Bashan.
34. Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all he did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
35. And Jehu went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son became king in his place.
36. And the time of Jehu's rule over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

Proverbs 2 / Basic English

1. My son, if you will take my words to your heart, storing up my laws in your mind;
2. So that your ear gives attention to wisdom, and your heart is turned to knowledge;
3. Truly, if you are crying out for good sense, and your request is for knowledge;
4. If you are looking for her as for silver, and searching for her as for stored-up wealth;
5. Then the fear of the Lord will be clear to you, and knowledge of God will be yours.
6. For the Lord gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and reason:
7. He has salvation stored up for the upright, he is a breastplate to those in whom there is no evil;
8. He keeps watch on the ways which are right, and takes care of those who have the fear of him.
9. Then you will have knowledge of righteousness and right acting, and upright behaviour, even of every good way.
10. For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasing to your soul;
11. Wise purposes will be watching over you, and knowledge will keep you;
12. Giving you salvation from the evil man, from those whose words are false;
13. Who give up the way of righteousness, to go by dark roads;
14. Who take pleasure in wrongdoing, and have joy in the evil designs of the sinner;
15. Whose ways are not straight, and whose footsteps are turned to evil:
16. To take you out of the power of the strange woman, who says smooth words with her tongue;
17. Who is false to the husband of her early years, and does not keep the agreement of her God in mind:
18. For her house is on the way down to death; her footsteps go down to the shades:
19. Those who go to her do not come back again; their feet do not keep in the ways of life:
20. So that you may go in the way of good men, and keep in the footsteps of the upright.
21. For the upright will be living in the land, and the good will have it for their heritage.
22. But sinners will be cut off from the land, and those whose acts are false will be uprooted.