Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Chronicles 9 / Basic English

1. Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to Jerusalem to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions; and with her came a very great train, and camels weighted down with spices, and great stores of gold and jewels: and when she came to Solomon she had talk with him of everything in her mind.
2. And Solomon gave her answers to all her questions; there was no secret which he did not make clear to her.
3. And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had made,
4. And the food at his table, and all his servants seated there, and those who were waiting on him in their places, and their robes, and his wine-servants and their robes, and the burned offerings which he made in the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
5. And she said to the king, The account which was given to me in my country of your acts and your wisdom was true.
6. But I had no faith in what was said about you, till I came and saw for myself; and truly, word was not given me of half your great wisdom; you are much greater than they said.
7. Happy are your wives and happy these your servants whose place is ever before you, hearing your words of wisdom.
8. Praise be to the Lord your God whose pleasure it was to put you on the seat of his kingdom to be king for the Lord your God: because, in his love for Israel, it was the purpose of your God to make them strong for ever, he made you king over them, to be their judge in righteousness.
9. And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great store of spices and jewels: never had such spices been seen as the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon.
10. And the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, in addition to gold from Ophir, came back with sandal-wood and jewels.
11. And with the sandal-wood the king made steps for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, and instruments of music for the makers of melody; never before had such been seen in the land of Judah.
12. And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she made request for, in addition to what she had taken to the king. So she went back to her country with her servants.
13. Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents;
14. And in addition to what he got from traders of different sorts, all the kings of Arabia and the rulers of the country gave gold and silver to Solomon.
15. And King Solomon made two hundred body-covers of hammered gold, every one having six hundred shekels of gold in it.
16. And he made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold, using three hundred shekels of gold for every cover, and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon.
17. Then the king made a great ivory seat, plated with the best gold.
18. There were six steps up to it, and a foot-rest of gold fixed to it, and arms on the two sides of the seat, with two lions at the side of the arms.
19. And twelve lions were placed on one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom.
20. All King Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold: no one gave a thought to silver in the days of Solomon.
21. For the king had Tarshish-ships sailing with the servants of Huram: once every three years the Tarshish-ships came back with gold and silver, ivory and monkeys and peacocks.
22. And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom.
23. And all the kings of the earth came to see Solomon and to give ear to his wisdom, which God had put into his heart.
24. And everyone took with him an offering, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses and beasts for transport, regularly year by year.
25. Solomon had four thousand buildings for his horses and his war-carriages, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king in Jerusalem.
26. And he was ruler over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the limit of Egypt.
27. The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number.
28. They got horses for Solomon from Egypt and from every land.
29. Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not recorded in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the words of Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh, and in the visions of Iddo the seer about Jeroboam, the son of Nebat?
30. Solomon was king over Israel in Jerusalem for forty years.
31. And Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.

2 Chronicles 10 / Basic English

1. And Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had come together to make him king.
2. And when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had news of it, (for he was in Egypt where he had gone in flight from King Solomon,) he came back from Egypt.
3. And they sent for him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said,
4. Your father put a hard yoke on us: if you will make the conditions under which your father kept us down less cruel, and the weight of the yoke he put on us less hard, then we will be your servants.
5. And he said to them, Come to me again after three days. So the people went away.
6. Then King Rehoboam took the opinion of the old men who had been with Solomon his father when he was living, and said, In your opinion, what answer am I to give to this people?
7. And they said to him, If you are kind to this people, pleasing them and saying good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever.
8. But he gave no attention to the opinion of the old men, but went to the young men of his generation who were waiting before him.
9. And he said to them, What is your opinion? What answer are we to give to this people who have said to me, Make less the weight of the yoke which your father put on us?
10. And the young men of his generation said to him, This is the answer to give to the people who came to you saying, Your father put a hard yoke on us, but will you make it less; say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's body;
11. If my father put a hard yoke on you, I will make it harder: my father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give you blows with snakes.
12. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had given orders, saying, Come to me again on the third day.
13. And the king gave them a rough answer. So King Rehoboam gave no attention to the suggestion of the old men,
14. But gave them the answer put forward by the young men, saying, My father made your yoke hard, but I will make it harder; my father gave you punishment with whips, but I will give it with snakes.
15. So the king did not give ear to the people; for this came about by the purpose of God, so that the Lord might give effect to his word which he had said by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.
16. And when all Israel saw that the king would give no attention to them, the people in answer said to the king, What part have we in David? what is our heritage in the son of Jesse? every man to your tents, O Israel; now see to your house, David. So all Israel went to their tents.
17. But Rehoboam was still king over those of the children of Israel who were living in the towns of Judah.
18. Then Rehoboam sent Adoniram, the overseer of the forced work; and he was stoned to death by all Israel. And King Rehoboam went quickly and got into his carriage to go in flight to Jerusalem.
19. So Israel was turned away from the family of David to this day.

Proverbs 31 / Basic English

1. The words of Lemuel, king of Massa: the teaching which he had from his mother.
2. What am I to say to you, O Lemuel, my oldest son? and what, O son of my body? and what, O son of my oaths?
3. Do not give your strength to women, or your ways to that which is the destruction of kings.
4. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to take wine, or for rulers to say, Where is strong drink?
5. For fear that through drinking they may come to have no respect for the law, wrongly judging the cause of those who are in trouble.
6. Give strong drink to him who is near to destruction, and wine to him whose soul is bitter:
7. Let him have drink, and his need will go from his mind, and the memory of his trouble will be gone.
8. Let your mouth be open for those who have no voice, in the cause of those who are ready for death.
9. Let your mouth be open, judging rightly, and give right decisions in the cause of the poor and those in need.
10. Who may make discovery of a woman of virtue? For her price is much higher than jewels.
11. The heart of her husband has faith in her, and he will have profit in full measure.
12. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.
13. She gets wool and linen, working at the business of her hands.
14. She is like the trading-ships, getting food from far away.
15. She gets up while it is still night, and gives meat to her family, and their food to her servant-girls.
16. After looking at a field with care, she gets it for a price, planting a vine-garden with the profit of her work.
17. She puts a band of strength round her, and makes her arms strong.
18. She sees that her marketing is of profit to her: her light does not go out by night.
19. She puts her hands to the cloth-working rod, and her fingers take the wheel.
20. Her hands are stretched out to the poor; yes, she is open-handed to those who are in need.
21. She has no fear of the snow for her family, for all those in her house are clothed in red.
22. She makes for herself cushions of needlework; her clothing is fair linen and purple.
23. Her husband is a man of note in the public place, when he takes his seat among the responsible men of the land.
24. She makes linen robes and gets a price for them, and traders take her cloth bands for a price.
25. Strength and self-respect are her clothing; she is facing the future with a smile.
26. Her mouth is open to give out wisdom, and the law of mercy is on her tongue.
27. She gives attention to the ways of her family, she does not take her food without working for it.
28. Her children get up and give her honour, and her husband gives her praise, saying,
29. Unnumbered women have done well, but you are better than all of them.
30. Fair looks are a deceit, and a beautiful form is of no value; but a woman who has the fear of the Lord is to be praised.
31. Give her credit for what her hands have made: let her be praised by her works in the public place.