Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

1 Chronicles 22 / Basic English

1. Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar for Israel's burned offerings.
2. And David gave orders to get together all the men from strange lands who were in the land of Israel; and he put stone-cutters to work, cutting stones for building the house of God.
3. And he got together a great store of iron, for the nails for the doors and for the joins; and brass, more in weight than might be measured;
4. And cedar-trees without number, for the Zidonians and the men of Tyre came with a great amount of cedar-trees for David.
5. And David said, Solomon my son is young and untested, and the house which is to be put up for the Lord is to be very great, a thing of wonder and glory through all countries; so I will make ready what is needed for it. So David got ready a great store of material before his death.
6. Then he sent for his son Solomon, and gave him orders for the building of a house for the Lord, the God of Israel.
7. And David said to Solomon, My son, it was my desire to put up a house for the name of the Lord my God.
8. But the word of the Lord came to me saying, You have taken lives without number and made great wars; I will not let you be the builder of a house for my name, because of the lives you have taken on the earth before my eyes.
9. But you will have a son who will be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from wars on every side. His name will be Solomon, and in his time I will give Israel peace and quiet;
10. He will be the builder of a house for my name; he will be to me a son, and I will be to him a father; and I will make the seat of his rule over Israel certain for ever.
11. Now, my son, may the Lord be with you; and may you do well, and put up the house of the Lord your God, as he has said of you.
12. Only may the Lord give you wisdom, and knowledge of his orders for Israel, so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God.
13. And all will go well for you, if you take care to keep the laws and the rules which the Lord gave to Moses for Israel: be strong and take heart; have no fear and do not be troubled.
14. Now see, poor though I am, I have got ready for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold and a million talents of silver; and a weight of brass and iron greater than may be measured; and wood and stone have I made ready, and you may put more to it.
15. And you have a great number of workmen, cutters and workers of stone and wood, and experts in every sort of work,
16. In gold and silver and brass and iron more than may be numbered. Up! then, and to work; and may the Lord be with you.
17. Then David gave orders to all the chiefs of Israel to give their help to Solomon his son, saying,
18. Is not the Lord your God with you? and has he not given you rest on every side? for the Lord has given the people of the land into my hands, and the land is overcome before the Lord and before his people.
19. Now give your heart and soul to the worship of the Lord your God; and get to work on the building of the holy place of the Lord God, so that you may put the ark of the Lord's agreement and the holy vessels of God in the house which is to be made for the name of the Lord.

1 Chronicles 23 / Basic English

1. Now David was old and full of days; and he made his son Solomon king over Israel.
2. And he got together all the chiefs of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.
3. And the Levites, all those of thirty years old and over, were numbered; and the number of them, by heads, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.
4. Of these, twenty-four thousand were to be overseers of the work of the house of the Lord, and six thousand were judges and men of authority;
5. Four thousand were door-keepers; and four thousand gave praise to the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, for giving praise.
6. And David put them into divisions under the names of the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
7. Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.
8. The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, and Zetham and Joel, three.
9. The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth and Haziel and Haran, three; these were the heads of the families of Ladan.
10. And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zizah and Jeush and Beriah; these four were the sons of Shimei.
11. Jahath was the chief and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah had only a small number of sons, so they were grouped together as one family.
12. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.
13. The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was made separate and holy, he and his sons for ever, for the care of the most holy things and the burning of offerings before the Lord, to do his work and give blessings in his name for ever.
14. And the sons of Moses, the man of God, were put into the list of the tribe of Levi.
15. The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.
16. The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the first.
17. And the sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the first; and Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had a great number.
18. The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the first.
19. The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
20. The sons of Uzziel: Micah the first, and Isshiah the second.
21. The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi; the sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.
22. And at his death Eleazar had no sons, but only daughters, and their relations, the sons of Kish, took them as wives.
23. The sons of Mushi: Mahli and Eder and Jeremoth, three.
24. These were the sons of Levi, grouped by families, the heads of the families of those who were numbered by name, by heads, all those of twenty years old and over who did the work of the house of the Lord.
25. For David said, The Lord, the God of Israel, has given his people rest, and he has made his resting-place in Jerusalem for ever;
26. And from now, there will be no need for the House of the Lord, and the vessels used in it, to be moved about by the Levites.
27. So among the last acts of David was the numbering of the sons of Levi, from twenty years old and over.
28. Their place was by the side of the sons of Aaron in all the work of the house of the Lord, in the open spaces and in the rooms, in the making clean of all the holy things, in doing all the work of the house of the Lord,
29. The holy bread was in their care, and the crushed grain for the meal offering, of unleavened cakes or meal cooked over the fire or in water; they had control of all sorts of weights and measures;
30. They had to take their places every morning to give praise and make melody to the Lord, and in the same way at evening;
31. At every offering of burned offerings to the Lord, on Sabbaths, and at the new moons, and on the regular feasts, in the number ordered by the law, at all times before the Lord;
32. And they had the care of the Tent of meeting and the holy place, under the direction of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the work of the house of the Lord.

Proverbs 24 / Basic English

1. Have no envy for evil men, or any desire to be with them:
2. For the purposes of their hearts are destruction, and their lips are talking of trouble.
3. The building of a house is by wisdom, and by reason it is made strong:
4. And by knowledge its rooms are full of all dear and pleasing things.
5. A wise man is strong; and a man of knowledge makes strength greater.
6. For by wise guiding you will overcome in war: and in a number of wise guides there is salvation.
7. Wisdom is outside the power of the foolish: he keeps his mouth shut in the public place.
8. He whose purposes are bad will be named a man of evil designs.
9. The purpose of the foolish is sin: and the hater of authority is disgusting to others.
10. If you give way in the day of trouble, your strength is small.
11. Be the saviour of those who are given up to death, and do not keep back help from those who are slipping to destruction.
12. If you say, See, we had no knowledge of this: does not the tester of hearts give thought to it? and he who keeps your soul, has he no knowledge of it? and will he not give to every man the reward of his work?
13. My son, take honey, for it is good; and the flowing honey, which is sweet to your taste:
14. So let your desire be for wisdom: if you have it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
15. Do not keep a secret watch, O evil-doer, against the fields of the upright man, or send destruction on his resting-place:
16. For an upright man, after falling seven times, will get up again: but trouble is the downfall of the evil.
17. Do not be glad at the fall of your hater, and let not your heart have joy at his downfall:
18. For fear that the Lord may see it, and it may be evil in his eyes, and his wrath may be turned away from him.
19. Do not be troubled because of evil-doers, or have envy of sinners:
20. For there will be no future for the evil man; the light of sinners will be put out.
21. My son, go in fear of the Lord and the king: have nothing to do with those who are in high positions:
22. For their downfall will come suddenly; and who has knowledge of the destruction of those in high positions?
23. These are more sayings of the wise: To have respect for a person's position when judging is not good.
24. He who says to the evil-doer, You are upright, will be cursed by peoples and hated by nations.
25. But those who say sharp words to him will have delight, and a blessing of good will come on them.
26. He gives a kiss with his lips who gives a right answer.
27. Put your work in order outside, and make it ready in the field; and after that, see to the building of your house.
28. Do not be a violent witness against your neighbour, or let your lips say what is false.
29. Say not, I will do to him as he has done to me; I will give the man the reward of his work.
30. I went by the field of the hater of work, and by the vine-garden of the man without sense;
31. And it was all full of thorns, and covered with waste plants, and its stone wall was broken down.
32. Then looking at it, I gave thought: I saw, and I got teaching from it.
33. A little sleep, a little rest, a little folding of the hands in sleep:
34. So loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man.