Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Kings (4 Kings) 13 / Basic English

1. In the twenty-third year of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for seventeen years.
2. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he did and made Israel do; he did not keep himself from them.
3. So the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the power of Hazael, king of Aram, and into the power of Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael, again and again.
4. Then Jehoahaz made prayer to the Lord, and the Lord gave ear to him, for he saw how cruelly Israel was crushed by the king of Aram.
5. (And the Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they became free from the hands of the Aramaeans; and the children of Israel were living in their tents as in the past.
6. But still they did not give up the sin of Jeroboam, which he made Israel do, but went on with it; and there was an image of Asherah in Samaria.)
7. For out of all his army, Jehoahaz had only fifty horsemen and ten carriages and ten thousand footmen; the king of Aram had given them up to destruction, crushing them like dust.
8. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all he did, and his great power, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
9. And Jehoahaz went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria; and Joash his son became king in his place.
10. In the thirty-seventh year of the rule of Joash, king of Judah, Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for sixteen years.
11. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning away from the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he did and made Israel do, but he went on with it.
12. Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all he did, and the force with which he went to war against Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
13. And Joash went to rest with his fathers and Jeroboam took his place as king; and Joash was put into the earth in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
14. Now Elisha became ill with the disease which was the cause of his death: and Joash, king of Israel, came down to him, and weeping over him said, My father, my father, the war-carriages of Israel and its horsemen!
15. Then Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows: and he took bow and arrows.
16. And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand on the bow: and he put his hand on it; and Elisha put his hands on the king's hands.
17. Then he said; Let the window be open to the east: and he got it open. Then Elisha said, Let the arrow go; and he let it go. And he said, The Lord's arrow of salvation, of salvation over Aram; for you will overcome the Aramaeans in Aphek and put an end to them.
18. And he said, Take the arrows: and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Send them down into the earth; and he did so three times and no more.
19. Then the man of God was angry with him and said, If you had done it five or six times, then you would have overcome Aram completely; but now you will only overcome them three times.
20. And death came to Elisha and they put his body into the earth. Now in the spring of the year, armed bands of Moabites frequently came, overrunning the land.
21. And while they were putting a dead man into the earth, they saw a band coming; and they put the man quickly into the place where Elisha's body was; and the dead man, on touching Elisha's bones, came to life again, and got up on his feet.
22. And Israel was crushed under the power of Hazael, king of Aram, all the days of Jehoahaz.
23. But the Lord was kind to them and had pity on them, caring for them, because of his agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he would not put them to destruction or send them away from before his face till now.
24. Then Hazael, king of Aram, came to his end; and Ben-hadad his son became king in his place.
25. And Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, took again from Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael, the towns which he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. Three times Jehoash overcame him and got back the towns of Israel.

2 Kings (4 Kings) 14 / Basic English

1. In the second year of Joash, son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah, the son of Joash, became king of Judah.
2. He was twenty-five years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years; his mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem.
3. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, though not like David his father; he did as Joash his father had done.
4. But still the high places were not taken away; the people went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.
5. Now when he became strong in the kingdom, straight away he put to death those servants who had taken the life of the king his father;
6. But he did not put their children to death; for the orders of the Lord recorded in the book of the law of Moses say, The fathers are not to be put to death for the children, or the children for their fathers; but a man is to be put to death for the sin which he himself has done.
7. He put to the sword twelve thousand men of Edom in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela in war, naming it Joktheel, as it is to this day.
8. Then Amaziah sent representatives to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us have a meeting face to face.
9. And Jehoash, king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, saying, The thorn-tree in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son for a wife: and a beast from the woodland in Lebanon went by, crushing the thorn under his feet.
10. It is true that you have overcome Edom and your heart is uplifted; let that glory be enough for you, and keep in your country; why do you make causes of trouble, putting yourself, and Judah with you, in danger of downfall?
11. But Amaziah gave no attention. So Jehoash, king of Israel, went up, and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, came face to face at Beth-shemesh, which is in Judah.
12. And Judah was overcome before Israel, so that they went in flight, every man to his tent.
13. And Jehoash, king of Israel, made Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, prisoner at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and had the wall of Jerusalem pulled down from the doorway of Ephraim to the door in the angle, four hundred cubits.
14. And he took all the gold and silver and all the vessels which were in the house of the Lord and in the store-house of the king, together with those whose lives would be the price of broken faith, and went back to Samaria.
15. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash, and his power, and how he went to war with Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
16. And Jehoash went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son became king in his place.
17. Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, went on living for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.
18. And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
19. Now they made a secret design against him in Jerusalem; and he went in flight to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.
20. And they took his body on horseback and put it into the earth with his fathers in Jerusalem, the town of David.
21. Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
22. He was the builder of Elath, which he got back for Judah after the death of the king.
23. In the fifteenth year of the rule of Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, ruling for forty-one years.
24. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning away from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.
25. He got back the old limits of Israel from the way into Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, as the Lord had said by his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet of Gath-hepher.
26. For the Lord saw how bitter was the trouble of Israel, and that everyone was cut off, he who was shut up and he who went free, and that Israel had no helper.
27. And the Lord had not said that the name of Israel was to be taken away from the earth; but he gave them a saviour in Jeroboam, the son of Joash.
28. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all he did, and his power, and how he went to war with Damascus, causing the wrath of the Lord to be turned away from Israel, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
29. And Jeroboam went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth with the kings of Israel; and Zechariah his son became king in his place.

Proverbs 4 / Basic English

1. Give ear, my sons, to the teaching of a father; give attention so that you may have knowledge:
2. For I give you good teaching; do not give up the knowledge you are getting from me.
3. For I was a son to my father, a gentle and an only one to my mother.
4. And he gave me teaching, saying to me, Keep my words in your heart; keep my rules so that you may have life:
5. Get wisdom, get true knowledge; keep it in memory, do not be turned away from the words of my mouth.
6. Do not give her up, and she will keep you; give her your love, and she will make you safe.
7. The first sign of wisdom is to get wisdom; go, give all you have to get true knowledge.
8. Put her in a high place, and you will be lifted up by her; she will give you honour, when you give her your love.
9. She will put a crown of grace on your head, giving you a head-dress of glory.
10. Give ear, O my son, and let your heart be open to my sayings; and long life will be yours.
11. I have given you teaching in the way of wisdom, guiding your steps in the straight way.
12. When you go, your way will not be narrow, and in running you will not have a fall.
13. Take learning in your hands, do not let her go: keep her, for she is your life.
14. Do not go in the road of sinners, or be walking in the way of evil men.
15. Keep far from it, do not go near; be turned from it, and go on your way.
16. For they take no rest till they have done evil; their sleep is taken away if they have not been the cause of someone's fall.
17. The bread of evil-doing is their food, the wine of violent acts their drink.
18. But the way of the upright is like the light of early morning, getting brighter and brighter till the full day.
19. The way of sinners is dark; they see not the cause of their fall.
20. My son, give attention to my words; let your ear be turned to my sayings.
21. Let them not go from your eyes; keep them deep in your heart.
22. For they are life to him who gets them, and strength to all his flesh.
23. And keep watch over your heart with all care; so you will have life.
24. Put away from you an evil tongue, and let false lips be far from you.
25. Keep your eyes on what is in front of you, looking straight before you.
26. Keep a watch on your behaviour; let all your ways be rightly ordered.
27. Let there be no turning to the right or to the left, keep your feet from evil.