What Does the Scripture Say?

Like many of you, I have found great blessings in listening to the Word of God. Before I was even a Christian, I remember a believer giving me Alexander Scourby reading the King James Version on tapes. I also remember that Christy and I couldn’t make out what the man was saying at all! Either, it was his accent, the olde English, or the fact that spiritual things are spiritually discerned (most likely the latter) but we just didn’t “get it”.

How ironic now that God has saved me and given me His Holy Spirit to understand the things of the Lord that the old Scourby rendition of the King James Version is one of my favorites. I usually use the New American Standard Bible as my primary Bible and thus actually have listened to the NASB on tape more than the KJV, but I love both!

Here are some sample chapters of the different versions of the Bible. Here’s a tip, the person reading the Bible can make it or break it. In other words, some readers don’t know how to use inflection correctly or just plain read very well. Some renditions sound like it’s the first time the man’s ever read a Bible. Others sound like they have been reading it for decades. To me, Scourby does the best at “expository reading” (i.e. giving the sense of the Scripture simply by reading it correctly).

Alexander Scourby has the best KJV rendition, hands down. It can come in either voice only or dramatized. Personally I like the voice only. You can actually listen to the entire Bible online for free by going here http://www.audio-bible.com/bible/bible.html

For NASB, Steven B. Stevens does the best (he reads the 1995 updated edition). He does a pretty good job at expository reading. If you must hear the 1977 NASB, Red Jeffries does that version (but personally I think it sounds like it’s the first time he ever read the Bible).

If you use the NIV, there are numerous readers available. One fairly new and popular rendition is by Max Mclean. He actually uses a ’stage’ voice to read it so that it is very dramatic. Personally, I think he doesn’t emphasize the right words or syllables many times. Plus I don’t use the NIV all that much anyways, mainly for comparative analysis.

Listening to the Word of God is great for the soul and great for memorization as well. Most of you know that I only drive about 10 minutes to work each day (each way), but you’d be surprised at how much Word you can get through when you do that 5 days a week. I’d encourage you to get a copy of the Word in audio format (whether CDs, tapes, MP3s) and be blessed! By the way, I have three brand new NASB NT tape sets if anyone wants one.

If you were interested in buying some audio Bibles, here’s one place that sells them all. http://www.biblebible.com Also www.christianbook.com might have them all.

Below are samplings of the various versions. Enjoy! May the Lord bless this listening to His Word!

Alexander Scourby reading Philippians 1 in the KJV
Alexander Scourby reading Philippians 1 in the KJV

Steven B. Stevens reading Hebrews 3 from the NASB
Steven B. Stevens reading Hebrews 3 from the NASB

The ‘dramatized’ Scourby reading Acts 19 from KJV
The ‘dramatized’ Scourby reading Acts 19 from KJV

Max McLean reading Romans 10 from the NIV
Max McLean reading Romans 10 from the NIV