Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Chronicles 26 / Basic English

1. Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
2. He was the builder of Eloth, which he got back for Judah after the death of the king.
3. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for fifty-two years; his mother's name was Jechiliah of Jerusalem.
4. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Amaziah had done.
5. He gave himself to searching after God in the days of Zechariah, who made men wise in the fear of God; and as long as he was true to the Lord, God made things go well for him.
6. He went out and made war against the Philistines, pulling down the walls of Gath and Jabneh and Ashdod, and building towns in the country round Ashdod and among the Philistines.
7. And God gave him help against the Philistines, and against the Arabians living in Gur-baal, and against the Meunim.
8. The Ammonites gave offerings to Uzziah: and news of him went out as far as the limit of Egypt; for he became very great in power.
9. Uzziah made towers in Jerusalem, at the doorway in the angle and at the doorway in the valley and at the turn of the wall, arming them.
10. And he put up towers in the waste land and made places for storing water, for he had much cattle, in the low hills and in the table land; and he had farmers and vine-keepers in the mountains and in the fertile land, for he was a lover of farming.
11. In addition, Uzziah had an army of fighting-men who went out to war in bands, as they had been listed by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the authority of Hananiah, one of the king's captains.
12. The heads of families, the strong men of war, were two thousand, six hundred.
13. And under their orders was a trained army of three hundred and seven thousand, five hundred, of great strength in war, helping the king against any who came against him.
14. And Uzziah had all these forces armed with body-covers and spears and head-covers and coats of metal and bows and stones for sending from leather bands.
15. And in Jerusalem he made machines, the invention of expert men, to be placed on the towers and angles of the walls for sending arrows and great stones. And his name was honoured far and wide; for he was greatly helped till he was strong.
16. But when he had become strong, his heart was lifted up in pride, causing his destruction; and he did evil against the Lord his God; for he went into the Temple of the Lord for the purpose of burning perfumes on the altar of perfumes.
17. And Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty of the Lord's priests, who were strong men;
18. And they made protests to Uzziah the king, and said to him, The burning of perfumes, Uzziah, is not your business but that of the priests, the sons of Aaron, who have been made holy for this work: go out of the holy place, for you have done wrong, and it will not be to your honour before God.
19. Then Uzziah was angry; and he had in his hand a vessel for burning perfume; and while his wrath was bitter against the priests, the mark of the leper's disease came out on his brow, before the eyes of the priests in the house of the Lord by the altar of perfumes.
20. And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests, looking at him, saw the mark of the leper on his brow, and they sent him out quickly and he himself went out straight away, for the Lord's punishment had come on him.
21. So King Uzziah was a leper till the day of his death, living separately in his private house; for he was cut off from the house of God; and Jotham his son was ruling over his house, judging the people of the land.
22. Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, were recorded by Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
23. So Uzziah went to rest with his fathers; and they put his body into the earth in the field used for the resting-place of the kings, for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son became king in his place.

2 Chronicles 27 / Basic English

1. Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king; and he was ruling in Jerusalem for sixteen years; and his mother's name was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.
2. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Uzziah had done; but he did not go into the Temple of the Lord. And the people still went on in their evil ways.
3. He put up the higher doorway of the house of the Lord, and did much building on the wall of the Ophel.
4. In addition, he made towns in the hill-country of Judah, and strong buildings and towers in the woodlands.
5. He went to war with the king of the children of Ammon and overcame them. That year, the children of Ammon gave him a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of grain and ten thousand measures of barley. And the children of Ammon gave him the same amount the second year and the third.
6. So Jotham became strong, because in all his ways he made the Lord his guide.
7. Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
8. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for sixteen years.
9. And Jotham went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body into the earth in the town of David; and Ahaz his son became king in his place.

2 Chronicles 28 / Basic English

1. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he was ruling in Jerusalem for sixteen years; he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like David his father:
2. But he went in the ways of the kings of Israel and made images of metal for the Baals.
3. More than this, he had offerings burned in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and made his children go through 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 and had perfumes burned in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
5. So the Lord his God gave him up into the hands of the king of Aram; and they overcame him, and took away a great number of his people as prisoners to Damascus. Then he was given into the hands of the king of Israel, who sent great destruction on him.
6. For Pekah, the son of Remaliah, in one day put to death a hundred and twenty thousand men of Judah, all of them good fighting-men; because they had given up the Lord, the God of their fathers.
7. And Zichri, a great fighting-man of Ephraim, put to death Maaseiah, the king's son, and Azrikam, the controller of his house, and Elkanah, who was second in authority to the king.
8. And the children of Israel took away as prisoners from their brothers, two hundred thousand, women and sons and daughters, and a great store of their goods, and took them to Samaria.
9. But a prophet of the Lord was there, named Oded; and he went out in front of the army which was coming into Samaria and said to them, Truly, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them up into your hands, and you have put them to death in an outburst of wrath stretching up to heaven.
10. And now your purpose is to keep the children of Judah and Jerusalem as men-servants and women-servants under your yoke: but are there no sins against the Lord your God to be seen among yourselves?
11. And now give ear to me, and send back the prisoners whom you have taken from your brothers: for the wrath of the Lord is burning against you.
12. Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah, the son of Johanan, Berechiah, the son of Meshillemoth Jehizkiah, the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, put themselves against those who had come from the war,
13. And said to them, You are not to let these prisoners come here; for what you are designing to do will be a cause of sin against the Lord to us, making even greater our sin and our wrongdoing, which now are great enough, and his wrath is burning against Israel.
14. So the armed men gave up the prisoners and the goods they had taken to the heads and the meeting of the people.
15. And those men who have been named went up and took the prisoners, clothing those among them who were uncovered, with things from the goods which had been taken in the war, and putting robes on them and shoes on their feet; and they gave them food and drink and oil for their bodies, and seating all the feeble among them on asses, they took them to Jericho, the town of palm-trees, to their people, and then went back to Samaria.
16. At that time King Ahaz sent for help to the king of Assyria.
17. For the Edomites had come again, attacking Judah and taking away prisoners.
18. And the Philistines, forcing their way into the towns of the lowlands and the south of Judah, had taken Beth-shemesh and Aijalon and Gederoth and Soco, with their daughter-towns, as well as Timnah and Gimzo and their daughter-towns, and were living there.
19. For the Lord made Judah low, because of Ahaz, king of Israel; for he had given up all self-control in Judah, sinning greatly against the Lord.
20. Then Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came to him, but was a cause of trouble and not of strength to him.
21. For Ahaz took a part of the wealth from the house of the Lord, and from the house of the king and of the great men, and gave it to the king of Assyria; but it was no help to him.
22. And in the time of his trouble, this same King Ahaz did even more evil against the Lord.
23. For he made offerings to the gods of Damascus, who were attacking him, and said, Because the gods of the kings of Aram are giving them help, I will make offerings to them so that they may give me help. But they were the cause of his downfall, and of that of all Israel.
24. And Ahaz got together the vessels of the house of God, cutting up all the vessels of the house of God, and shutting the doors of the Lord's house; and he made altars in every part of Jerusalem.
25. And in every town of Judah he made high places where perfumes were burned to other gods, awaking the wrath of the Lord, the God of his fathers.
26. Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, first and last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
27. And Ahaz went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body into the earth in Jerusalem; but they did not put him in the resting-place of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Acts 7 / Basic English

1. Then the high priest said, Are these things true?
2. And he said, My brothers and fathers, give hearing. The God of glory came to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he was living in Haran,
3. And said to him, Go out of your land, and away from your family, and come into the land to which I will be your guide.
4. Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and went into Haran; and from there, when his father was dead, he was guided by God into this land, where you are living now:
5. And God gave him no heritage in it, not even enough to put his foot on: but he gave him an undertaking that he would give it to him and to his children after him, though he had no child at that time.
6. And God said that his seed would be living in a strange land, and that they would make them servants, and be cruel to them for four hundred years.
7. And I will be the judge, said God, of that nation which made them servants: and after that, they will come out and give me worship in this place.
8. And he made with him the agreement of which circumcision was the sign. And so Abraham had a son, Isaac, and gave him circumcision on the eighth day; and Isaac had a son, Jacob, and Jacob was the father of the twelve heads of the families of Israel.
9. And the brothers, moved with envy against Joseph, gave him to the Egyptians for money: but God was with him,
10. And made him free from all his troubles, and gave him wisdom and the approval of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and all his house.
11. Now there was no food to be had in all Egypt and Canaan, and there was great trouble: and our fathers were not able to get food.
12. But Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, sent out our fathers the first time.
13. And the second time his brothers had a meeting with Joseph, and Pharaoh had knowledge of Joseph's family.
14. Then Joseph sent for Jacob his father and all his family, seventy-five persons.
15. And Jacob went down to Egypt, and came to his end there, and so did our fathers;
16. And they were taken over to Shechem, and put to rest in the place which Abraham got for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17. But when the time was near for putting into effect the undertaking which God had given to Abraham, the people were increasing in Egypt,
18. Till another king came to power, who had no knowledge of Joseph.
19. He, having evil designs against our nation, was cruel to our fathers, and they were forced to put out their young children, so that they might not go on living.
20. At which time Moses came to birth, and he was very beautiful; and he was kept for three months in his father's house:
21. And when he was put out, Pharaoh's daughter took him and kept him as her son.
22. And Moses was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, and was great in his words and works.
23. But when he was almost forty years old, it came into his heart to go and see his brothers, the children of Israel.
24. And seeing one of them being attacked, he went to his help and gave the Egyptian a death-blow:
25. And he was hoping that his brothers would see that God had sent him to be their saviour; but they did not see.
26. And the day after, he came to them, while they were having a fight, and would have made peace between them, saying, Sirs, you are brothers; why do you do wrong to one another?
27. But the man who was doing wrong to his neighbour, pushing him away, said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28. Will you put me to death as you did the Egyptian yesterday?
29. And at these words, Moses went in flight to the land of Midian, and was living there for a time, and had two sons.
30. At the end of forty years, an angel came to him in the waste land of Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn-tree.
31. And Moses, seeing it, was full of wonder, and when he came up to have a nearer view of it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying,
32. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. And Moses, shaking with fear, kept his eyes from looking at it.
33. And the Lord said, Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy.
34. Truly, I have seen the sorrows of my people in Egypt, and their cries have come to my ears, and I have come down to make them free: and now, come, I will send you to Egypt.
35. This Moses, whom they would not have, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? him God sent to be a ruler and a saviour, by the hand of the angel whom he saw in the thorn-tree.
36. This man took them out, having done wonders and signs in Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the waste land, for forty years.
37. This is the same Moses, who said to the children of Israel, God will give you a prophet from among your brothers, like me.
38. This is the man who was in the church in the waste land with the angel who was talking to him in Sinai, and with our fathers; and to him were given the living words of God, so that he might give them to you.
39. By whom our fathers would not be controlled; but they put him on one side, turning back in their hearts to Egypt,
40. And saying to Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him.
41. And they made the image of a young ox in those days, and made an offering to it, and had joy in the work of their hands.
42. But God was turned from them and let them give worship to the stars of heaven, as it says in the book of the prophets, Did you make offerings to me of sheep and oxen for forty years in the waste land, O house of Israel?
43. And you took up the tent of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, images which you made to give worship to them: and I will take you away, farther than Babylon.
44. Our fathers had the Tent of witness in the waste land, as God gave orders to Moses to make it after the design which he had seen.
45. Which our fathers, in their turn, took with them when, with Joshua, they came into the heritage of the nations whom God was driving out before the face of our fathers, till the time of David,
46. Who was pleasing to God; and he had a desire to make a holy tent for the God of Jacob.
47. But Solomon was the builder of his house.
48. But still, the Most High has not his resting-place in houses made with hands, as the prophet says,
49. Heaven is the seat of my power, and earth is a resting-place for my feet: what sort of house will you make for me, says the Lord, or what is my place of rest?
50. Did not my hand make all these things?
51. You whose hearts are hard and whose ears are shut to me; you are ever working against the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
52. Which of the prophets was not cruelly attacked by your fathers? and they put to death those who gave them the news of the coming of the Upright One; whom you have now given up and put to death;
53. You, to whom the law was given as it was ordered by angels, and who have not kept it.
54. Hearing these things, they were cut to the heart and moved with wrath against him.
55. But he was full of the Holy Spirit, and looking up to heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus at the right hand of God.
56. And he said, Now I see heaven open, and the Son of man at the right hand of God.
57. But with loud cries, and stopping their ears, they made an attack on him all together,
58. Driving him out of the town and stoning him: and the witnesses put their clothing at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59. And Stephen, while he was being stoned, made prayer to God, saying, Lord Jesus, take my spirit.
60. And going down on his knees, he said in a loud voice, Lord, do not make them responsible for this sin. And when he had said this, he went to his rest.