Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Kings (4 Kings) 20 / Basic English

1. In those days Hezekiah was ill and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, The Lord says, Put your house in order, for your death is near.
2. Then, turning his face to the wall, he made his prayer to the Lord, saying,
3. O Lord, keep in mind how I have been true to you with all my heart, and have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah gave way to bitter weeping.
4. Now before Isaiah had gone out of the middle of the town, the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
5. Go back and say to Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, The Lord, the God of David your father, says, Your prayer has come to my ears, and I have seen your weeping; see, I will make you well: on the third day you will go up to the house of the Lord.
6. I will give you fifteen more years of life; and I will keep you and this town safe from the hands of the king of Assyria; I will keep this town safe, for my honour, and for the honour of my servant David.
7. Then Isaiah said, Take a cake of figs. So they took it and put it on his wound, and he got better.
8. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What is to be the sign that the Lord will make me well, and that I will go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?
9. And Isaiah said, This is the sign the Lord will give you, that he will do what he has said; will the shade go forward ten degrees or back?
10. And Hezekiah said in answer, It is a simple thing for the shade to go forward; but let it go back ten degrees.
11. Then Isaiah the prophet made prayer to the Lord, and he made the shade go back ten degrees from its position on the steps of Ahaz.
12. At that time, Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters with an offering to Hezekiah, because he had news that Hezekiah had been ill.
13. And Hezekiah was glad at their coming and let them see all his store of wealth, the silver and the gold and the spices and the oil of great price, and the house of his arms, and everything there was in his stores; there was nothing in all his house or his kingdom which Hezekiah did not let them see.
14. Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say and where did they come from? And Hezekiah said, They came from a far country, even from Babylon.
15. And he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah said in answer, They saw everything in my house: there is nothing among my stores which I did not let them see.
16. And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Give ear to the word of the Lord.
17. Truly, days are coming when everything in your house, and whatever your fathers have put in store till this day, will be taken away to Babylon: all will be gone, says the Lord.
18. And your sons, the offspring of your body, they will take away to be unsexed servants in the house of the king of Babylon.
19. Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which you have said. Then he said, ... if in my time there is peace and righteousness?
20. Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his power, and how he made the pool and the stream, to take water into the town, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
21. And Hezekiah went to rest with his fathers; and Manasseh his son became king in his place.

2 Kings (4 Kings) 21 / Basic English

1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king; for fifty-five years he was ruling in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzi-bah.
2. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the disgusting ways of those nations whom the Lord had sent out before the children of Israel.
3. He put up again the high places which had been pulled down by Hezekiah his father; he made altars for Baal, and an Asherah, as Ahab, king of Israel, had done; he was a worshipper and servant of all the stars of heaven.
4. And he put up altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
5. And he put up altars for all the stars of heaven in the two outer squares of the house of the Lord.
6. And he made his son go through the fire, and made use of secret arts and signs for reading the future; he gave positions to those who had control of spirits and to wonder-workers; he did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath.
7. He put the image of Asherah which he had made in the house of which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever.
8. And never again will I send the feet of Israel wandering from the land which I gave to their fathers; if only they will take care to do all my orders, and keep all the law which my servant Moses gave them.
9. But they did not give ear; and Manasseh made them do more evil than those nations did, whom the Lord gave up to destruction before the children of Israel.
10. And the Lord said, by his servants the prophets,
11. Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has done these disgusting things, doing more evil than all the Amorites before him, and making Judah do evil with his false gods,
12. For this cause, says the Lord, the God of Israel, I will send such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of all to whom the news comes will be burning.
13. And over Jerusalem will be stretched the line of Samaria and the weight of Ahab; Jerusalem will be washed clean as a plate is washed, and turned over on its face.
14. And I will put away from me the rest of my heritage, and give them up into the hands of their haters, who will take their property and their goods for themselves;
15. Because they have done evil in my eyes, moving me to wrath, from the day when their fathers came out of Egypt till this day.
16. More than this, Manasseh took the lives of upright men, till Jerusalem from one end to the other was full of blood; in addition to his sin in making Judah do evil in the eyes of the Lord.
17. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all he did, and his sins, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
18. So Manasseh went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son became king in his place.
19. Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, ruling in Jerusalem for two years; his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
20. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done.
21. He went in all the ways of his father, being a servant and worshipper of the false gods to which his father had been a servant;
22. Turning away from the Lord, the God of his fathers, and not walking in his ways.
23. And the servants of Amon made a secret design against him, and put the king to death in his house.
24. But the people of the land put to death all those who had taken part in the design against the king, and made Josiah his son king in his place.
25. Now the rest of the acts which Amon did, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Judah?
26. He was put in his last resting-place in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in his place.

Proverbs 8 / Basic English

1. Is not wisdom crying out, and the voice of knowledge sounding?
2. At the top of the highways, at the meeting of the roads, she takes her place;
3. Where the roads go into the town her cry goes out, at the doorways her voice is loud:
4. I am crying out to you, O men; my voice comes to the sons of men.
5. Become expert in reason, O you simple ones; you foolish ones, take training to heart.
6. Give ear, for my words are true, and my lips are open to give out what is upright.
7. For good faith goes out of my mouth, and false lips are disgusting to me.
8. All the words of my mouth are righteousness; there is nothing false or twisted in them.
9. They are all true to him whose mind is awake, and straightforward to those who get knowledge.
10. Take my teaching, and not silver; get knowledge in place of the best gold.
11. For wisdom is better than jewels, and all things which may be desired are nothing in comparison with her.
12. I, wisdom, have made wise behaviour my near relation; I am seen to be the special friend of wise purposes.
13. The fear of the Lord is seen in hating evil: pride, a high opinion of oneself, the evil way, and the false tongue, are unpleasing to me.
14. Wise design and good sense are mine; reason and strength are mine.
15. Through me kings have their power, and rulers give right decisions.
16. Through me chiefs have authority, and the noble ones are judging in righteousness.
17. Those who have given me their love are loved by me, and those who make search for me with care will get me.
18. Wealth and honour are in my hands, even wealth without equal and righteousness.
19. My fruit is better than gold, even than the best gold; and my increase is more to be desired than silver.
20. I go in the road of righteousness, in the way of right judging:
21. So that I may give my lovers wealth for their heritage, making their store-houses full.
22. The Lord made me as the start of his way, the first of his works in the past.
23. From eternal days I was given my place, from the birth of time, before the earth was.
24. When there was no deep I was given birth, when there were no fountains flowing with water.
25. Before the mountains were put in their places, before the hills was my birth:
26. When he had not made the earth or the fields or the dust of the world.
27. When he made ready the heavens I was there: when he put an arch over the face of the deep:
28. When he made strong the skies overhead: when the fountains of the deep were fixed:
29. When he put a limit to the sea, so that the waters might not go against his word: when he put in position the bases of the earth:
30. Then I was by his side, as a master workman: and I was his delight from day to day, playing before him at all times;
31. Playing in his earth; and my delight was with the sons of men.
32. Give ear to me then, my sons: for happy are those who keep my ways.
33. Take my teaching and be wise; do not let it go.
34. Happy is the man who gives ear to me, watching at my doors day by day, keeping his place by the pillars of my house.
35. For whoever gets me gets life, and grace from the Lord will come to him.
36. But he who does evil to me, does wrong to his soul: all my haters are in love with death.