Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Kings (4 Kings) 15 / Basic English

1. In the twenty-seventh year of the rule of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Azariah, son of Amaziah, became king of Judah.
2. He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for fifty-two years; his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
3. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Amaziah had done.
4. But he did not take away the high places, and the people still went on making offerings and burning them in the high places.
5. And the Lord sent disease on the king and he became a leper, and to the day of his death he was living separately in his private house. And Jotham his son was over his house, judging the people of the land.
6. Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
7. And Azariah went to rest with his fathers and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David; and Jotham his son became king in his place.
8. In the thirty-eighth year of Azaliah, king of Judah, Zechariah, son of Jeroboam, was king over Israel for six months.
9. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father had done, not turning away from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.
10. And Shallum, the son of Jabesh, made a secret design against him, and, attacking him in Ibleam, put him to death and became king in his place.
11. Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.
12. This was what the Lord had said to Jehu, Your sons to the fourth generation will be kings of Israel. And so it came about.
13. Shallum, the son of Jabesh, became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah, king of Judah; and he was ruling in Samaria for the space of one month.
14. Then Menahem, the son of Gadi, went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and attacking Shallum, son of Jabesh, in Samaria, put him to death and made himself king in his place.
15. Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and the secret design which he made, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.
16. Then Menahem sent destruction on Tappuah and all the people in it, and its limits, from Tirzah, because they would not let him come in; and he had all the women who were with child cut open.
17. In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Menahem, the son of Gadi, became king over Israel, and was ruling in Samaria for ten years.
18. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not keep himself from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.
19. In his day, Pul, the king of Assyria, came up against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that he might let him keep the kingdom.
20. And Menahem got the money from Israel, from all the men of wealth, fifty silver shekels from every man, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria went back without stopping in the land.
21. Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
22. And Menahem went to rest with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son became king in his place.
23. In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for two years.
24. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.
25. And Pekah, the son of Remaliah, his captain, made a secret design against him, attacking him in the king's great house in Samaria; and with him were fifty men of Gilead; and he put him to death and became king in his place.
26. Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all he did, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.
27. In the fifty-second year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, became king over Israel in Samaria, ruling for twenty years.
28. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not turning from the sin which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, did and made Israel do.
29. In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee and all the land of Naphtali; and he took the people away to Assyria.
30. And Hoshea, the son of Elah, made a secret design against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and, attacking him, put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham, the son of Uzziah.
31. Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all he did, are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel.
32. In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, the son of Uzziah, became king of Judah.
33. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he was ruling for sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.
34. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Uzziah had done.
35. But he did not take away the high places, and the people still went on making offerings and burning them in the high places. He was the builder of the higher doorway of the house of the Lord.
36. Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all he did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
37. In those days the Lord first sent against Judah, Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah.
38. And Jotham went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Ahaz his son became king in his place.

2 Kings (4 Kings) 16 / Basic English

1. In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, became king of Judah.
2. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king; he was ruling for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as David his father did.
3. But he went in the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made his son go through the fire, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.
4. And he made offerings, burning them in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
5. Then Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war; and they made an attack on Ahaz, shutting him in, but were not able to overcome him.
6. At that time the king of Edom got Elath back for Edom, and sent the Jews out of Elath; and the Edomites came back to Elath where they are living to this day.
7. So Ahaz sent representatives to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son; come to my help against the kings of Aram and Israel who have taken up arms against me.
8. And Ahaz took the silver and gold which were in the house of the Lord and in the king's store-house, and sent them as an offering to the king of Assyria.
9. And the king of Assyria, in answer to his request, went up against Damascus and took it, and took its people away as prisoners to Kir, and put Rezin to death.
10. Then King Ahaz went to Damascus for a meeting with Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria; and there he saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a copy of the altar, giving the design of it and all the details of its structure.
11. And from the copy King Ahaz sent from Damascus, Urijah made an altar and had it ready by the time King Ahaz came back from Damascus.
12. And when the king came from Damascus, he saw the altar; and he went up on it and made an offering on it.
13. He made his burned offering and his meal offering and his drink offering there, draining out the blood of his peace-offerings on the altar.
14. And the brass altar, which was before the Lord, he took from the front of the house, from between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar.
15. And King Ahaz gave orders to Urijah the priest, saying, Make the morning burned offering and the evening meal offering and the king's burned offering and meal offering, with the burned offerings of all the people and their meal offerings and drink offerings, on the great altar, and put on it all the blood of the burned offerings and of the beasts which are offered; but the brass altar will be for my use to get directions from the Lord.
16. So Urijah the priest did everything as the king said
17. And King Ahaz took off the sides of the wheeled bases, and took down the great water-vessel from off the brass oxen which were under it and put it on a floor of stone.
18. *** the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria.
19. Now the rest of the things which Ahaz did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
20. And Ahaz went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth with his fathers in the town of David; and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Proverbs 5 / Basic English

1. My son, give attention to my wisdom; let your ear be turned to my teaching:
2. So that you may be ruled by a wise purpose, and your lips may keep knowledge.
3. For honey is dropping from the lips of the strange woman, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
4. But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword;
5. Her feet go down to death, and her steps to the underworld;
6. She never keeps her mind on the road of life; her ways are uncertain, she has no knowledge.
7. Give ear to me then, my sons, and do not put away my words from you.
8. Go far away from her, do not come near the door of her house;
9. For fear that you may give your honour to others, and your wealth to strange men:
10. And strange men may be full of your wealth, and the fruit of your work go to the house of others;
11. And you will be full of grief at the end of your life, when your flesh and your body are wasted;
12. And you will say, How was teaching hated by me, and my heart put no value on training;
13. I did not give attention to the voice of my teachers, my ear was not turned to those who were guiding me!
14. I was in almost all evil in the company of the people.
15. Let water from your store and not that of others be your drink, and running water from your fountain.
16. Let not your springs be flowing in the streets, or your streams of water in the open places.
17. Let them be for yourself only, not for other men with you.
18. Let blessing be on your fountain; have joy in the wife of your early years.
19. As a loving hind and a gentle doe, let her breasts ever give you rapture; let your passion at all times be moved by her love.
20. Why let yourself, my son, go out of the way with a strange woman, and take another woman in your arms?
21. For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.
22. The evil-doer will be taken in the net of his crimes, and prisoned in the cords of his sin.
23. He will come to his end for need of teaching; he is so foolish that he will go wandering from the right way.