The Listener's Bible

English Standard Version

By: Fellowship for the Performing Arts

Narrated by: Max McLean

Length: 75 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Max McLean brings his compelling voice and artistic narrative skills to the ESV Bible. This Gold Medallion-winning new translation combines a word-for-word translation approach with a literary beauty that is perfect for the oral expression of God's Word.

Public Domain (P)2004 Max McLean

Gripping and life-changing

Would you listen to The Listener's Bible again? Why?

I will listen to this Bible repeatedly. It is God's word and Max MacLean brings it to life.

What does Max McLean bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Max MacLean uses his amazing vocal talent to bring meaning to the text of God's word. He conveys a sense of building suspense, of awe and reverence, of being appalled and horrified. His narration engages my attention effectively and I find myself listening and thrilled for extended periods of time.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Gripping and Life-Changing

The absolute best narrator of the Bible

Where does The Listener's Bible rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I do not know of a single narrator I enjoy more than Max Mclean. The scripture comes alive with his narration. Once I got this version I rarely listen to any other narrator. Mr. McLean makes the word come alive.

God's word comes alive with Max McLean

I have found this to be a delightful presentation of God's word. Max does a wonderful job and I thank him for this gift.

Less than ideally designed

Any additional comments?

I prefer the English Standard Version over other English translations of the Bible. When I was looking for an audiobook of the Bible, this was an easy choice for me. This audiobook is over 75 hours as read by Max McLean and it includes peaceful background music, not unlike the sounds one might use if doing relaxation training. I Quite enjoy it.

Unfortunately, there are several "hiccups" to this audio book. First, it seems to me that the microphone used to record the audio may not have been radio broadcast quality or else the sound file was saved using a lower audio setting. When listening to the narration using my Bose headphone, the voice recording sounds tinny to me. This is a minor annoyance and after a few minutes of listening, I don't seem to notice it. The second issue is far more problematic. Within the Audible app, the Bible is divided into 37 Parts. No label is given to each of the parts other than "Part 1" or "Part 37". Thus, if one is wanting to hear the Gospel of Mark, for example, it may require quite some time to find the specific part and then the specific location within the part. It would have been much better to divide the Bible into 66 different parts--one for each book and to label each part the name of the book. Within iTunes, the audiobook is divided differently. Under audiobooks and then chapters, they have divided the Bible into 1117 chapters. These are labeled "Chapter 1", "Chapter 2", "Chapter 1117". Again, this makes it quite cumbersome to find and locate a specific book.

If one wants to hear the Bible cover to cover as one would read a novel, this audiobook is ideal. If one is wanting to read specific books without beginning with Genesis, this may prove quite the challenge.

The Word of God audio!

Would you listen to The Listener's Bible again? Why?

This is excellent to listen to whether you are on your way to work or cleaning up at home. God's word audio version.

great for sleep listening

this version is great for sleep listening. great soothing voice, no crashing sound effects in the background. feed your brain "good news" while you sleep:)

Excellent narrative of the Holy Bible!!

Love, Love, Love to listen to Max Maclean reading the scriptures! This is by far his best performance. God’s wonderful Word comes to life so clearly and beautifully. I listen almost every day, at work, in the car, cooking dinner… I have a small Bluetooth speaker that connects to my iPhone and I can listen for hours on end without any interruption. The Scriptures is so important for our everyday life, we need God’s guidance and instructions to live a happy godly life. I listen to Every Book in the Bible! You need every piece of God’s armor! I have only one complaint with audible…. The Bible is 66 books, the chapters should have been separated into 66 sections, each book in its own part. Instead it’s all one continuous piece, Genesis 1 is chapter one, Revelation 22 is chapter 978!!! So to help myself navigate through the scriptures, I add clips or bookmarks at the beginning of each book as soon as that book begins, I tap “clips” then “add a note” and type in “Daniel chapter 1, the bookmark is automatically added and that way, if I want to listen to the book of Daniel, I’ll tap on the (…) icon at the top right, scroll down to “clips and bookmarks “ and select my bookmark “Daniel chapter 1. I’ve done this for almost the entire Bible, so I have no trouble finding any book I want to listen too!! It’s simple and easy! God’s Word is precious and well worth any effort on my part in order to be able to listen to it!! ✝️

Easy to listen to!

I like the voice, it’s very easy to listen to! I listen to it while getting ready.

Leviticus 12

I don’t think the recording for Leviticus 12 is the right one. It would be great if you guys can fix that! Thank you though for producing such a wonderful production:)

Great reading of a great translation!!!

My church has a daily bible reading that takes you through the bible in one year. They have a "listen" button on their website and this is the version that they use for that. I started to really enjoy having it read to me, but I am not alsways able to listen on the computer so I bought this for my car. It is a very fine reading and keeps me interested even through some of the tougher parts of the OT. I actually enjoyed Leviticus!!!

Update: July 8, 2019 - I want to thank William S Cross for his table of contents which has finally made this audio bible usable. Thank you so much William!!!