Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Chronicles 13 / Basic English

1. In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.
2. He was king in Jerusalem for three years; his mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
3. And Abijah went out to the fight with an army of men of war, four hundred thousand of his best men; and Jeroboam put his forces in line against him, eight hundred thousand of his best men of war.
4. And Abijah took up his position on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill-country of Ephraim, and said, Give ear to me, O Jeroboam and all Israel:
5. Is it not clear to you that the Lord, the God of Israel, gave the rule over Israel to David and to his sons for ever, by an agreement made with salt?
6. But Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, took up arms against his lord.
7. And certain foolish and good-for-nothing men were joined with him, and made themselves strong against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when he was young and untested and not able to keep them back.
8. And now it is your purpose to put yourselves against the authority which the Lord has put into the hands of the sons of David, and you are a very great number, and you have with you the gold oxen which Jeroboam made to be your gods.
9. And after driving out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, have you not made priests for yourselves as the people of other lands do? so that anyone who comes to make himself priest by offering an ox or seven sheep, may be a priest of those who are no gods.
10. But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not been turned away from him; we have priests who do the work of the Lord, even the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their places;
11. By whom burned offerings and perfumes are sent up in smoke before the Lord every morning and every evening; and they put out the holy bread on its table and the gold support for the lights with its lights burning every evening; for we keep the orders given to us by the Lord our God, but you have gone away from him.
12. And now God is with us at our head, and his priests with their loud horns sounding against you. O children of Israel, do not make war on the Lord, the God of your fathers, for it will not go well for you.
13. But Jeroboam had put some of his men to make a surprise attack on them from the back, so some were facing Judah and others were stationed secretly at their back.
14. And Judah, turning their faces, saw that they were being attacked in front and at the back; and they gave a cry for help to the Lord, while the priests were sounding their horns.
15. And the men of Judah gave a loud cry; and at their cry, God put fear into Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
16. And the children of Israel went in flight before Judah, and God gave them up into their hands.
17. And Abijah and his people put them to death with great destruction: five hundred thousand of the best of Israel were put to the sword.
18. So at that time the children of Israel were overcome, and the children of Judah got the better of them, because they put their faith in the Lord, the God of their fathers.
19. And Abijah went after Jeroboam and took some of his towns, Beth-el with its small towns and Jeshanah with its small towns and Ephron with its small towns.
20. And Jeroboam did not get back his power again in the life-time of Abijah; and the Lord sent death on him.
21. But Abijah became great, and had fourteen wives, and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22. And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways and his sayings, are recorded in the account of the prophet Iddo.

2 Chronicles 14 / Basic English

1. So Abijah went to rest with his fathers, and they put him into the earth in the town of David, and Asa his son became king in his place; in his time the land was quiet for ten years.
2. And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God;
3. For he took away the altars of strange gods and the high places, and had the upright stones broken and the wood pillars cut down;
4. And he made Judah go after the Lord, the God of their fathers, and keep his laws and his orders.
5. And he took away the high places and the sun-images from all the towns of Judah; and the kingdom was quiet under his rule.
6. He made walled towns in Judah, for the land was quiet and there were no wars in those years, because the Lord had given him rest.
7. He said to Judah, Let us make these towns, building walls round them with towers and doors and locks. The land is still ours, because we have been true to the Lord our God; we have been true to him and he has given us rest on every side. So they went on building and all went well for them.
8. And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men of Judah armed with body-covers and spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand of Benjamin armed with body-covers and bows; all these were men of war.
9. And Zerah the Ethiopian, with an army of a million, and three hundred war-carriages, came out against them to Mareshah.
10. And Asa went out against him, and they put their forces in position in the valley north of Mareshah.
11. And Asa made prayer to the Lord his God and said, Lord, you only are able to give help against the strong to him who has no strength; come to our help, O Lord our God, for our hope is in you, and in your name we have come out against this great army. O Lord, you are our God; let not man's power be greater than yours.
12. So the Lord sent fear on the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah; and the Ethiopians went in flight.
13. And Asa and the people who were with him went after them as far as Gerar; and so great was the destruction among the Ethiopians that they were not able to get their army together again, for they were broken before the Lord and before his army; and they took away a great amount of their goods.
14. And they overcame all the towns round Gerar, because the Lord sent fear on them; and they took away their goods from the towns, for there were stores of wealth in them.
15. And they made an attack on the tents of the owners of the cattle, and took away great numbers of sheep and camels and went back to Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 15 / Basic English

1. And the spirit of God came on Azariah, the son of Oded;
2. And he came face to face with Asa and said to him, Give ear to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with him; if your heart's desire is for him, he will be near you, but if you give him up, he will give you up.
3. Now for a long time Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without the law;
4. But when in their trouble they were turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, searching after him, he let their search be rewarded.
5. In those times there was no peace for him who went out or for him who came in, but great trouble was on all the people of the lands.
6. And they were broken by divisions, nation against nation and town against town, because God sent all sorts of trouble on them.
7. But be you strong and let not your hands be feeble, for your work will be rewarded.
8. And Asa, hearing these words of Azariah, the son of Oded the prophet, took heart and put away all the disgusting things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the towns which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he made new again the altar of the Lord in front of the covered way of the Lord's house.
9. And he got together all Judah and Benjamin and those of Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon who were living with them; for numbers of them came to him out of Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
10. So they came together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the rule of Asa.
11. And that day they made offerings to the Lord of the things they had taken in war, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
12. And they made an agreement to be true to the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and all their soul;
13. And that anyone, small or great, man or woman, who was not true to the Lord, the God of Israel, would be put to death.
14. And they made an oath to the Lord, with a loud voice, sounding wind-instruments and horns.
15. And all Judah was glad because of the oath, for they had taken it with all their heart, turning to the Lord with all their desire; and he was with them and gave them rest on every side.
16. And Asa would not let Maacah, his mother, be queen, because she had made a disgusting image for Asherah; and Asa had her image cut down and broken up and burned by the stream Kidron.
17. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel; but still the heart of Asa was true to the Lord all his life.
18. He took into the house of God all the things which his father had made holy and those which he himself had made holy, silver and gold and vessels.
19. And there was no more war till the thirty-fifth year of the rule of Asa.

Acts 2 / Basic English

1. And when the day of Pentecost was come, they were all together in one place.
2. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rushing of a violent wind, and all the house where they were was full of it.
3. And they saw tongues, like flames of fire, coming to rest on every one of them.
4. And they were all full of the Holy Spirit, and were talking in different languages, as the Spirit gave them power.
5. Now there were living at Jerusalem, Jews, God-fearing men, from every nation under heaven.
6. And when this sound came to their ears, they all came together, and were greatly surprised because every man was hearing the words of the disciples in his special language.
7. And they were full of wonder and said, Are not all these men Galilaeans?
8. And how is it that every one of us is hearing their words in the language which was ours from our birth?
9. Men of Parthia, Media, and Elam, and those living in Mesopotamia, in Judaea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia,
10. In Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and those who have come from Rome, Jews by birth and others who have become Jews,
11. Men of Crete and Arabia, to all of us they are talking in our different languages, of the great works of God.
12. And they were all surprised and in doubt saying to one another, What is the reason of this?
13. But others, making sport of them, said, They are full of new wine.
14. But Peter, getting up, with the eleven, said in a loud voice, O men of Judaea, and all you who are living in Jerusalem, take note of this and give ear to my words.
15. For these men are not overcome with wine, as it seems to you, for it is only the third hour of the day;
16. But this is the thing which was said by the prophet Joel;
17. And it will come about, in the last days, says God, that I will send out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will be prophets, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams:
18. And on my men-servants and my women-servants I will send my Spirit, and they will be prophets.
19. And wonders will be seen in heaven, and signs on the earth, blood and fire and smoke:
20. The sun will become dark and the moon will be turned to blood, before that great day of the Lord comes in glory:
21. And whoever makes his prayer to the Lord will have salvation.
22. Men of Israel, give ear to these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man who had the approval of God, as was made clear to you by the great works and signs and wonders which God did by him among you, as you yourselves have knowledge,
23. Him, when he was given up, by the decision and knowledge of God, you put to death on the cross, by the hands of evil men:
24. But God gave him back to life, having made him free from the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be overcome by it.
25. For David said of him, I saw the Lord before my face at all times, for he is at my right hand, so that I may not be moved:
26. And for this cause my heart was glad and my tongue full of joy, and my flesh will be resting in hope:
27. For you will not let my soul be in hell and you will not give up your Holy One to destruction.
28. You have made me see the ways of life; I will be full of joy when I see your face.
29. My brothers, I may say to you openly that David came to his death, and was put in the earth, and his resting-place is with us today.
30. But being a prophet, and having in mind the oath which God had given to him, that of the fruit of his body one would take his place as a king,
31. He, having knowledge of the future, was talking of the coming again of Christ from the dead, that he was not kept in hell and his body did not see destruction.
32. This Jesus God has given back to life, of which we all are witnesses.
33. And so, being lifted up to the right hand of God, and having the Father's word that the Holy Spirit would come, he has sent this thing, which now you see and have knowledge of.
34. For David has not gone up into heaven, but says, himself, The Lord said to my Lord, Be seated at my right hand,
35. Till I put all those who are against you under your feet.
36. For this reason, let all Israel be certain that this Jesus, whom you put to death on the cross, God has made Lord and Christ.
37. Now when these words came to their ears their hearts were troubled, and they said to Peter and the other Apostles, Brothers, what are we to do?
38. And Peter said, Let your hearts be changed, every one of you, and have baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will have the Holy Spirit given to you.
39. For the word of God is for you and for your children and for all those who are far off, even all those who may be marked out by the Lord our God.
40. And with more such words he gave his witness, offering them salvation and saying, Come out from this evil generation.
41. Then those who gave hearing to his words had baptism: and about three thousand souls were joined to them that day.
42. And they kept their attention fixed on the Apostles' teaching and were united together in the taking of broken bread and in prayer.
43. But fear came on every soul: and all sorts of wonders and signs were done by the Apostles.
44. And all those who were of the faith kept together, and had all things in common;
45. And exchanging their goods and property for money, they made division of it among them all, as they had need.
46. And day by day, going in agreement together regularly to the Temple and, taking broken bread together in their houses, they took their food with joy and with true hearts,
47. Giving praise to God, and having the approval of all the people; and every day the number of those who had salvation was increased by the Lord.