Basic English Version : Read the Bible in 1 Year

2 Chronicles 33 / Basic English

1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he was ruling for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.
3. For he put up again the high places which had been pulled down by his father Hezekiah; and he made altars for the Baals, and pillars of wood, and was a worshipper and servant of all the stars of heaven;
4. And he made altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem will my name be for ever.
5. And he made altars for all the stars of heaven in the two outer squares of the house of the Lord.
6. More than this, he made his children go through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he made use of secret arts, and signs for reading the future, and unnatural powers, and 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. And he put the image he had made in the house of God, the house of which God 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, will I put my name for ever:
8. And never again will I let the feet of Israel be moved out of the land which I have given to their fathers; if only they will take care to do all my orders, even all the law and the orders and the rules given to them by Moses.
9. And Manasseh made Judah and the people of Jerusalem go out of the true way, so that they did more evil than those nations whom the Lord gave up to destruction before the children of Israel.
10. And the word of the Lord came to Manasseh and his people, but they gave no attention.
11. So the Lord sent against them the captains of the army of Assyria, who made Manasseh a prisoner and took him away in chains to Babylon.
12. And crying out to the Lord his God in his trouble, he made himself low before the God of his fathers,
13. And made prayer to him; and in answer to his prayer God let him come back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh was certain that the Lord was God.
14. After this he made an outer wall for the town of David, on the west side of Gihon in the valley, as far as the way into the town by the fish doorway; and he put a very high wall round the Ophel; and he put captains of the army in all the walled towns of Judah.
15. He took away the strange gods and the image out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars he had put up on the hill of the Lord's house and in Jerusalem, and put them out of the town.
16. And he put the altar of the Lord in order, offering peace-offerings and praise-offerings on it, and said that all Judah were to be servants of the Lord, the God of Israel.
17. However, the people still made offerings in the high places, but only to the Lord their God.
18. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words which the seers said to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are recorded among the acts of the kings of Israel.
19. And the prayer which he made to God, and how God gave him an answer, and all his sin and his wrongdoing, and the places where he made high places and put up pillars of wood and images, before he put away his pride, are recorded in the history of the seers.
20. So Manasseh went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body to rest in his house, and Amon his son became king in his place.
21. Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king; and he was ruling for two years in Jerusalem.
22. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done; and Amon made offerings to all the images which his father Manasseh had made, and was their servant.
23. He did not make himself low before the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done, but went on sinning more and more.
24. And his servants made a secret design against him, and put him to death in his house.
25. But the people of the land put to death all those who had taken part in the design against King Amon, and made his son Josiah king in his place.

2 Chronicles 34 / Basic English

1. Josiah was eight years old when he became king; he was ruling in Jerusalem for thirty-one years.
2. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of his father David, without turning to the right hand or to the left.
3. In the eighth year of his rule, while he was still young, his heart was first turned to the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he undertook the clearing away of all the high places and the pillars and the images of wood and metal from Judah and Jerusalem.
4. He had the altars of the Baals broken down, while he himself was present; and the sun-images which were placed on high over them he had cut down; and the pillars of wood and the metal images he had broken up and crushed to dust, dropping the dust over the resting-places of the dead who had made offerings to them.
5. And he had the bones of the priests burned on their altars, and so he made Judah and Jerusalem clean.
6. And in all the towns of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon as far as Naphtali, he made waste their houses round about.
7. He had the altars and the pillars of wood pulled down and the images crushed to dust, and all the sun-images cut down, through all the land of Israel, and then he went back to Jerusalem.
8. Now in the eighteenth year of his rule, when the land and the house had been made clean, he sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah, the ruler of the town, and Joah, the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to make good what was damaged in the house of the Lord his God.
9. And they came to Hilkiah, the chief priest, and gave him all the money which had been taken into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the door, had got from Manasseh and Ephraim and those of Israel who had not been taken away as prisoners, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the people of Jerusalem.
10. And they gave it to the overseers of the work of the Lord's house, and the overseers gave it to the workmen working in the house, for building it up and making good what was damaged;
11. Even to the woodworkers and builders to get cut stone and wood for joining the structure together and for making boards for the houses which the kings of Judah had given up to destruction.
12. And the men did the work well; and those who had authority over them were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, who were to be responsible for seeing that the work was done; and others of the Levites, who were expert with instruments of music,
13. Had authority over the transport workers, giving directions to all who were doing any sort of work; and among the Levites there were scribes and overseers and door-keepers.
14. Now when they were taking out the money which had come into the Lord's house, Hilkiah the priest came across the book of the law of the Lord, which he had given by the mouth of Moses.
15. Then Hilkiah said to Shaphan the scribe, I have made discovery of the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.
16. And Shaphan took the book to the king; and he gave him an account of what had been done, saying, Your servants are doing all they have been given to do;
17. They have taken out all the money which was in the Lord's house and have given it to the overseers and to the workmen.
18. Then Shaphan the scribe said to the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book; and he made a start at reading some of it to the king.
19. And the king, hearing the words of the law, took his robe in his hands, violently parting it as a sign of his grief.
20. And he gave orders to Hilkiah and to Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Abdon, the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe and Asaiah, the king's servant, saying,
21. Go and get directions from the Lord for me and for those who are still in Israel and for Judah, about the words of this book which has come to light; for great is the wrath of the Lord which has been let loose on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord or done what is recorded in this book.
22. So Hilkiah, and those whom the king sent, went to Huldah the woman prophet, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, the keeper of the robes (now she was living in Jerusalem, in the second part of the town); and they had talk with her about this thing.
23. And she said to them, The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, Say to the man who sent you to me,
24. These are the words of the Lord: See, I will send evil on this place and on its people, even all the curses in the book which they have been reading before the king of Judah;
25. Because they have given me up, burning offerings to other gods and moving me to wrath by all the works of their hands; so my wrath is let loose on this place and will not be put out.
26. But to the king of Judah who sent you to get directions from the Lord, say, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said: Because you have given ear to my words,
27. And your heart was soft, and you made yourself low before God, on hearing his words about this place and its people, and with weeping and signs of grief have made yourself low before me, I have given ear to you, says the Lord God.
28. See, I will let you go to your fathers, and be put in your last resting-place in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will send on this place and on its people. So they took this news back to the king.
29. Then the king sent and got together all the responsible men of Judah and of Jerusalem.
30. And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and the priests and the Levites and all the people, small and great; and they were present at his reading of the book of the law which had come to light in the house of the Lord.
31. Then the king, taking his place by the pillar, made an agreement before the Lord, to go in the way of the Lord, and to keep his orders and his decisions and his rules with all his heart and with all his soul, and to keep the words of the agreement recorded in this book.
32. And he made all the people in Jerusalem and Benjamin give their word to keep it. And the people of Jerusalem kept the agreement of God, the God of their fathers.
33. Josiah took away all the disgusting things out of all the lands of the children of Israel, and made all who were in Israel servants of the Lord their God. And as long as he was living they were true to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

Acts 10 / Basic English

1. Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, named Cornelius, the captain of the Italian band of the army;
2. A serious-minded man, fearing God with all his family; he gave much money to the poor, and made prayer to God at all times.
3. He saw in a vision, clearly, at about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of the Lord coming to him and saying to him, Cornelius!
4. And he, looking on him in fear, said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Your prayers and your offerings have come up to God, and he has kept them in mind.
5. Now send men to Joppa, and get one Simon, named Peter,
6. Who is living with Simon, a leather-worker, whose house is by the sea.
7. And when the angel who said these words to him had gone away, he sent for two of his house-servants, and a God-fearing man of the army, one of those who were waiting on him at all times;
8. And having given them an account of everything, he sent them to Joppa.
9. Now the day after, when they were on their journey and were near the town, Peter went up to the top of the house for prayer, about the sixth hour:
10. And he was in need of food: but while they were getting it ready, a deep sleep came on him;
11. And he saw the heavens opening, and a vessel coming down, like a great cloth let down on the earth,
12. In which were all sorts of beasts and birds.
13. And a voice came to him, saying, Come, Peter; take them for food.
14. But Peter said, No, Lord; for I have never taken food which is common or unclean.
15. And the voice came to him a second time, What God has made clean, do not you make common.
16. And this was done three times: and then the vessel was taken back into heaven.
17. Now while Peter was in doubt as to the purpose of this vision, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made search for Simon's house, came to the door,
18. To see if Simon, named Peter, was living there.
19. And, while Peter was turning the vision over in his mind, the Spirit said to him, See, three men are looking for you.
20. Go down, then, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.
21. And Peter went down to the men, and said, I am the man you are looking for: why have you come?
22. And they said, Cornelius, a captain, an upright and God-fearing man, respected by all the nation of the Jews, had word from God by an angel to send for you to his house, and to give hearing to your words.
23. So he took them in for the night. And the day after, he went with them, taking some of the brothers from Joppa with him.
24. And the day after that, they came to Caesarea. And Cornelius was waiting for them, having got together his relations and his near friends.
25. And when Peter came in, Cornelius came to him and, falling down at his feet, gave him worship.
26. But Peter, lifting him up, said, Get up, for I am a man as you are.
27. And saying these words, he went in, and saw that a great number of people had come together;
28. And he said to them, You yourselves have knowledge that it is against the law for a man who is a Jew to be in the company of one who is of another nation; but God has made it clear to me that no man may be named common or unclean:
29. And so I came without question, when I was sent for. What then is your purpose in sending for me?
30. And Cornelius said, Four days from now I was in my house in prayer at the ninth hour; and I saw before me a man in shining clothing,
31. Who said, Cornelius, your prayer has come to the ears of God, and your offerings are kept in his memory.
32. Send, then, to Joppa, and get Simon, named Peter, to come to you; he is living in the house of Simon, a leather-worker, by the sea.
33. So, straight away, I sent for you; and you have done well to come. And now, we are all present before God, ready to give attention to all the things which the Lord has given you to say.
34. Then Peter said, Truly, I see clearly that God is no respecter of persons:
35. But in every nation, the man who has fear of him and does righteousness is pleasing to him.
36. The word which he sent to the children of Israel, giving the good news of peace through Jesus Christ (who is Lord of all)--
37. That word you yourselves have knowledge of, which was made public through all Judaea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism of which John was the preacher,
38. About Jesus of Nazareth, how God gave the Holy Spirit to him, with power: and how he went about doing good and making well all who were troubled by evil spirits, for God was with him.
39. And we are witnesses of all the things which he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they put to death, hanging him on a tree.
40. On the third day God gave him back to life, and let him be seen,
41. Not by all the people, but by witnesses marked out before by God, even by us, who took food and drink with him after he came back from the dead.
42. And he gave us orders to give news of this to the people, and to give public witness that this is he whom God has made judge of the living and the dead.
43. To him all the prophets give witness, that through his name everyone who has faith in him will have forgiveness of sins.
44. While Peter was saying these words, the Holy Spirit came on all those who were hearing the word.
45. And the Jews of the faith, who had come with Peter, were full of wonder, because the Holy Spirit was given to the Gentiles,
46. And they were talking in tongues, and giving glory to God. Then Peter said,
47. Will any man say that these may not have baptism who have been given the Holy Spirit as we have?
48. And he gave orders for them to have baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they kept him with them for some days.