Good Audio Bible Suggestions?

I think McConachie’s reading is hilariously bad. Did he get paid? :grimacing:

I much prefer David Cochran Heath (sp?) who reads the ESV in the Bible app.

I really enjoy the Lexham English Bible (LEB) translation, and the audio version on the Bible App is actually my favorite voice of the options as well.

I came across the Streetlights app a while ago, and thought it was a fantastic and creative project, just wished they’d picked a better translation. It also got me thinking about how great it would be to have an audio Bible available read by men who read aloud like God’s word is living and active, and sharp like a sword… rather than a somewhat generic narrative. In any other audio book we’d want the reader to put a little more feeling into it than most audio Bible versions I’ve listened to.

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I’ve listened all the way through the Stephen Johnston NASB audio Bible multiple times and found it serviceable. (It’s on sale for $12.95 at CBD, normally around $20). Sample chapter track available here. No frills, gets the words across clearly. The thing that became distressing to me was how Mr. Johnston simply reads the judgments or pleadings of the Lord or the pleadings of the Apostle Paul or the prophets in a clear but uninvested voice. For instance, here:

Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? --Ezekiel 18:31

Mr. Johnston doesn’t preach or declare; he just speaks. I’d like to help record an audio Bible that declares. Of course, that requires interpreting the text.

The other distressing thing about the Johnston reading was the Proverbs, which came along at machine-gun rate with no time to process them. I’m thinking for the middle part of Proverbs (about chapters 9-29) each individual proverb ought to be read, with a pause, and then repeated. It might extend an already 70+ hour audio Bible into the 80+ hour range, but I think it would be worth it.

If I were to help record an audio Bible, one of the things I would need the most help with is proper people and place name pronunciation. I’d be happy to make a manful attempt (it’s what I do at home Bible reading), but I think the resultant butchering would be distracting to many.

However, where the “correct” pronunciation is itself distracting I would rather be helpful than correct; for example supposing (as I’ve heard) that Capernaum is correctly pronounced CAP-ur-NAY-um I’d still want to pronounce it the traditional cuh-PER-nay-um (and for the same reason if Baal is correctly pronounced bah-ALL I’d still want to pronounce it the traditional BAIL), because all those fancy pronunciations do for someone like me is get me distracted by how knowledgeable I must be to know of these new pronunciations.

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Did you find something you like, Chris? If not, I’ll contribute my two cents.

I did, but multiple options are nice, and there might be other people who would appreciate it, so fire away!

Well, the two I like best are Johnny Cash’s NKJV New Testament (which is on YouTube for free as well as available for purchase) and a very unprofessional recording of the World English Bible by David Field (Sarah Belschner’s dad).

Never buy audio Bibles from Audible, as their navigation is impossible; it’s just chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 all the way through. Christian Audio is the way to go for the Johnny Cash NT.

The Field WEB is available as its own app. It’s not a great app (you have to download the chapters one by one), but it’s free and I think worth checking out. Easiest way to find it in Google Play is to search for David Butler.

Anyway, those are the only two I’ve found that I can stomach—no actory or uberpious voices. What I REALLY want is an audio Bible read by Toby Sumpter, but I suppose we can’t have everything in this life. :wink:

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