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Dwell: a Deeply Satisfying Audio Bible App

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I have been a fan of audio Bibles for some time. First thing in the morning, while I’m dressing and brushing my teeth, I listen to the ESV: Through the Bible in a Year daily podcast. Then while exercising, I have often listened to a daily lectionary. And as I read and re-read books of the Bible to develop biblical thinking, I often alternate between reading and listening. In addition, we’re training our children for a lifestyle of devotional Bible “reading” through daily time with their own audio Bibles (a practice which has continued in our home long past the preschool years).

So I have tested many options for optimizing the audio Bible experience over the years. Some work out spectacularly. Others far less so.

And now that the Dwell audio Bible app is available, I’m happy to report it sits solidly in the spectacular category.

What is Dwell?

Dwell is not a CD set but a smartphone app. It’s currently available only for iOS, but an Android version is set to release in the next few months.

Dwell was designed from the ground up to be, not a Bible app, but a Bible listening app. You won’t find the text of Scripture anywhere in the app. All you will find is streaming audio of the Scripture being read.

Dwell uses the ESV translation (though they plan to add more over time), recorded by 4 voices with distinct accents and styles. You can set a default voice (my favorite is Felix, the East African), or have a random voice each time. Dwell offers 4 “album” options for contemplative background music, along with the option to turn the music off. You can set the volume for voice and for music independently to get the mix you most prefer.

The app allows you to listen straight through books of the Bible. It also has a library of “playlists,” which collect many verses around topics such as loneliness, creeds, the trinity, or God’s greatness. The app also has a library of “passages,” which are longer sections, but not entire books. So you can quickly choose selections such as Joseph’s story, the Sermon on the Mount, the fruit of the Spirit, or the friendship of David & Jonathan. Of these listening options, I most prefer entire books or passages; I find the playlists, with a few exceptions, to be somewhat arbitrary and unfortunately decontextualized.

Dwell also has many (currently 34) listening plans, such as Esther in 10 days, Psalms in 30 days, or Jesus’ miracles in 7 days. If you’re into daily routine, these plans are incredibly easy to use.

Dwell’s Limitations

You’ll want to know four things up front about Dwell before diving in:

  1. Dwell is still very much a work in progress. The user interface is highly polished and easy as can be, but the content is not yet complete. As of this writing, only the New Testament, Genesis, Exodus, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, Esther, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Hosea, Joel, and Jonah are available. But I have been surprised at how quickly new OT books have been added since the app’s release. As they receive more funding, they are quickly recording, editing, and releasing new content.
  2. Which brings me to the topic of funding. If you think of Dwell as only a smartphone app, you may be disappointed to hear that it costs money. (Note: There is a free version, which gives you access to only one voice, regularly interrupted by advertisements to buy the premium version. I found the ads to be frustratingly disruptive to the experience, such that I’d recommend only going unlimited unless you’d like to try before you buy.) But if you think of it as a deluxe audio Bible, the pricing fits about what you might expect. I eagerly supported Dwell when it was on Kickstarter, and I’m making copious use of my lifetime unlimited subscription. Dwell is delivering all that was promised and more.
  3. Dwell works only as a streaming service. You cannot download the audio files for offline playing. Since it consists of four entire audio Bibles (the four voices), the producers believed it to be too costly space-wise to store locally on people’s devices. So it functions only with an active internet connection. This might cause minor delays between tracks/chapters as your phone loads the new file, depending on the speed and quality of your internet connection.
  4. At this point, you cannot customize playlists or listening plans. The app is under vigorous development, however, so I wouldn’t be surprised if these features eventually show up.

Conclusion

I am thrilled with Dwell, and with the way it does everything possible to streamline the Bible listening experience. I can’t wait until the OT is finished, and they launch some through-the-Bible-in-a-year listening plans. This will no doubt replace my daily ESV podcast.

Dwell can’t compete with the quality of dramatization in NIV Live, but it doesn’t try to. For now, Dwell can hold a co-regency with NIV Live in my voracious Bible listening lifestyle. I highly recommend it to you.

4 Ideas to Improve Biblical Literacy

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Scott Slayton has four ideas to help you develop a robust biblical literacy. He writes:

Most Christians do not know the basics of the biblical storyline, basic facts about the Bible’s major characters, or the texts on which our most foundational doctrines are built. Many Christians try to have in-depth discussions about ethics and the relationship between Christianity and the government without knowing even the most basic facts about Scripture. It’s like trying to solve an equation when you don’t know that 2+2=4.

His suggestions are:

  1. Repeated reading
  2. Daily reading
  3. Scripture memory
  4. Supplemental reading

These suggestions may sound straightforward, but we have a hard time implementing such reading habits! Slayton explains what it could look like for you.

Check it out!

Update on Family Bible Reading

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I wrote last year about my commitment to my daughter to read her the entire Bible before her 18th birthday. This promise morphed into a weekly family Bible-reading extravaganza, where we spend 45 to 60 minutes simply reading the Scripture and letting the children ask any questions they have. I’m now writing with an update.

Jan Rowley, Creative Commons

  • We’ve been working on this for a little over 3 years, so it’s become part of our ingrained family routine.
  • 45 to 60 minutes may sound like a long time, but it goes quickly when the children get to play during the reading (my original post describes how we do it).
  • We don’t actually do it every week. If anyone is traveling, we skip it. But I would estimate that we miss only 1 or 2 weeks each quarter.
  • Going through the Bible in canonical order, we’re now in the middle of Jeremiah.
  • All the names in 1 Chronicles 1-9 were rough, and the kids were the least engaged for that section. But I spread those chapters over 2 sittings so it wasn’t too painful for them all at once. And they’re able to bear the occasional “boring” section when they get to play with whatever they want. They’re not required to just sit and listen.
  • Proverbs 10-29 was also rough. When the topic changes every verse, it’s hard to listen to a lengthy reading!
  • Surprises:
    • They loved the Psalms. Even though there are many of them, most of them are short. And the children really followed along with the mood of each poem.
    • They also loved Job. The drama engaged them, as the characters took turns making their speeches.
    • My sons loved Isaiah, though they’re not sure why. One of them could explain his love only by saying, “It was really interesting.” Jeremiah has not been as interesting for them.
    • While I’m sure none of the children would choose Bible reading time over, say, going to the local pool, I get almost no complaints from them about doing it. The only exception is when we’re in a dry spot (usually a list of names): After 30 minutes, I might start getting questions about how much longer we’ll be reading.
    • Almost every week, though, most of the children are sad when I stop. They keep asking for “another chapter!”
    • It doesn’t take nearly as long to read the Bible out loud as I thought it would. I’m surprised that we’re in Jeremiah already. At this pace, we’ll finish long before my daughter’s 18th birthday. We might even get through the Bible twice.
  • I’m now using the CSB Reader’s Bible. I love the CSB translation, and the children follow it well. And a reader’s Bible gives me “permission” to keep reading and reading and reading, without any distracting verse numbers, chapter numbers, or section headings telling me that I should stop.

I hope this encourages you. You don’t need a perfect plan, a perfect curriculum, or a perfect set of family devotions. And you don’t need to do it the same way I have done it. But be encouraged: You can simply read the Bible to your kids!

Why You Shouldn’t Skip the Genealogies

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J.A. Medders understands the temptation to skip boring parts of the Bible, such as genealogies, even in his preaching. But he advises us not to do it. Why?

  1. Genealogies remind us the Bible isn’t about us.
  2. Genealogies remind us of God’s promise to send a son.

Medders has some needed encouragement to help us better align our hopes with God’s priorities. And I agree. Each year, as I commit to reading the genealogies along with the rest of the Scriptures, I find myself appreciating them more each time. Medders concludes:

[Genealogies] remind us about a list of names where you are listed. Right now, in Heaven, the Lamb’s Book of Life is filled with the names of those who would be redeemed by the blood of Jesus. And if you believe in the risen Lord, your name is on a page—and it’s written in ink older than the earth (Rev. 17:8). You aren’t listed in Exodus 6 or Matthew 1, but you are listed in Heaven, in a genealogy of Christ’s brothers and sisters.

Check it out!

NIV Live: A Bible Experience

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in the last few years, I have developed great joy in listening to the Bible. I listen to portions of it every day. Sometimes I like to listen to it while I follow along with the words. And sometimes I enjoy hearing it on its own. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out I actually spend more time listening to it than actually reading it.

This enjoyment has grown out of the fact that my smart phone makes it easier than ever before to have an audio Bible with me at all times. I subscribe to a podcast that follows a daily lectionary of readings. I have two complete audio Bibles (different translations) in my music app. And I eagerly backed Dwell, a Bible app designed from the ground up, just for listening.

With that background in mind, I’d like to tell you about something that has knocked my socks off: NIV Live: A Bible Experience. Calling NIV Live an audio Bible would be a little like calling the Superbowl a football game; while technically accurate, the label doesn’t quite capture the spectacle of the thing. Which is why, I think, the creators don’t call NIV Live an audio Bible; they call it A Bible Experience.

NIV Live presents an audio recording of the complete text of the NIV Bible. And everything about it attempts to draw you in to the experience.

  • After stating a book’s title, the audio has no unwanted intrusions. No mentions of chapter numbers to distract you from the experience. Just the text.
  • Dozens and dozens of readers. And many of the readers are professional voice actors. While I’m sure other such things exist, I had never heard an audio Bible treated with full, professional voice acting before I came across NIV Live.
    • Each reader has a role, as though the Bible were a very long play. The same actor plays Moses, every time Moses speaks. Another actor plays Yahweh. Another plays Jesus. And so on, down to the most minor characters. It’s fascinating to listen to different gospels, and have the same actor playing Peter every time he speaks.
    • Actors who read the role of an apostle also read that apostle’s letters. For example, the reader who plays Paul does both Paul’s dialogue in Acts and all of Paul’s epistles.
    • There is one narrator who reads all Old Testament narratives. New Testament narratives are read in the “voice” of the author (Matthew, Mark, Luke (who also reads Acts), and John). The different literal voices of the gospels give each gospel a remarkably different feel.
    • Not every reader is a professional. NIV Live employed many pastors to fill minor roles, and these are some of the most distracting parts. It feels mismatched to have someone act a role, while another person in the same scene is merely reading a text. But I can imagine hiring this many professional voice actors would have over-exceeded the available budget.
  • Tasteful music. My first impression (Genesis 1 and 2) was that the music was distractingly repetitive and annoying. But once I got used to it, I came to love it. I found it very well placed to highlight the mood, a climax, or a transition in just the right way.
  • Sound effects. Listening to the Bible was like listening to a movie. When we were in a city, I could hear (and therefore picture) the bustle of the busy marketplace. Battles were chaotic. Encounters with creation were framed accordingly.

I listened to the entire Bible in just over a month earlier this year. I couldn’t believe how fun it was to have the Bible not only read but also dramatized, without abridgment or interpretive summarization. If you think it would be too distracting to have the Bible dramatized in such a way, NIV Live might not be for you. But if you’re willing to try something a little different from what you’re used to, NIV Live provides an experience unlike any other.

One technical note: I prefer listening to my Bibles (or any spoken-word audio) at faster-than-normal speed. While NIV Live has a beautiful and fancy app, I can find no way to change the playback speed within the app. It is possible, but annoying to download the complete audio after purchasing it, because you have to download 66 files, one book at a time. But once you do, you can sync it with an audiobook app, which should enable you to change the playback speed.

 

Hone Your Ability to Focus on the Bible

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If we can’t focus on anything, we won’t be able to focus when it’s time to read the Bible. Along those lines, Scott Slayton has a few suggestions well worth considering:

  1. Shut out distractions.
  2. Read actively.
  3. Read in a consistent place and at a consistent time.
  4. Hone your concentration in other areas.

Slayton fleshes out these principles in his blog post. They sound like simple principles, but in his blog post, Slayton presents some challenging applications that are worth considering.

Check it out!

The Problem With Bible Reading Plans

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Writing for the blog of Southern Seminary, Joseph C. Harrod describes one common approach to Bible reading plans: reading one chapter at a time from different parts of the Bible. One famous reading plan does one chapter a day from Genesis, one from Ezra, one from Matthew, and one from Acts—then moving on from there each day through the Bible.

I have followed such a reading plan from a lectionary, for many years. I use this in addition to my annual read-through, as well as ongoing voluminous reading of whatever book I’m studying at the time (currently Isaiah). One benefit of the “various chapters” reading plan is that it keeps the whole of Scripture in the forefront.

But I’ve also seen a drawback to such reading plans: They train you to think only in chapter-long chunks, where you can easily miss the context of whole books. And Harrod identifies another drawback I hadn’t thought of: Such plans train you to think it takes a very long time to read through books. So, for example, Genesis takes almost 2 months (50 days) to get through, when, in fact, if you read only Genesis, you could finish it in 3.5 hours.

Harrod shows how even the longest books of the Bible can be read in about the same amount of time we’d take to watch an epic film or a sporting event. It’s worth devouring these books in one or two sittings. Harrod has some helpful insights in this first article on the problem with most Bible reading plans, and in a second article, he shows how you can read half the Bible in 30 minutes!

Check it out!

5 Reasons to Read the Bible Every Day

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Following up on last week’s Check It Out post to “chain yourself to the Word of God,” I’m eager to share this post by Jimmy Needham with “5 Reasons to Read the Bible Every Day.” According to Needham:

Before you get into God’s word, remember that becoming Bible-literate is not about being smarter, or beefing up your spiritual resume, or lording your knowledge over others. It’s about looking through the pages to the Savior on the other side. Jesus says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40). It’s about seeing and savoring Jesus Christ through his word. We don’t worship the font. We worship the Father.

Take this to heart, and Needham’s counsel will change your life. What are his 5 reasons?

  1. You cannot love God, and not listen to him.
  2. Your faith need promises to survive.
  3. We become like what we behold.
  4. You will only find the joy you want in words.
  5. There is work to be done.

The Bible teaches us that God loves the forgotten and the misfit. It shows us the value of shepherding our families. It introduces us to the generosity of other Christians (2 Corinthians 8:1–7), and calls us to be openhanded with what God gives us. It heralds the sanctity of every human life and inspires us to fight for the unborn. It declares that race should not be a barrier to Christian unity, but a beautiful occasion for it. We become equipped for every good work in the Bible.

Check it out!

Chain Yourself to the Word of God

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This article by Steve Robinson is addressed to church planters, but there is no reason his words can’t apply to any believer in Christ. Steve talks about the entropy of life, which causes us to lose our bearings and drift from one complex situation to another. Eventually we get so busy that we have no time left for Bible intake. We thereby cut ourselves off from the fount of eternal life and true encouragement.

Again, Robinson is speaking to church planters. But replace “church planter” with “Bible study leader,” “Sunday school teacher,” or even “parent,” and the point does not change:

Church planter: do you want to know the most important thing you can do in your ministry? Chain yourself to the Word of God. I know you have a million and one things to do. I know the needs of your congregation feel unending. But if the Word isn’t your lifeline, you won’t have anything to offer your needy people.

These exhortations are worth considering before you begin to feel the drift. In a time of plenty, how can you lay the tracks in your life that will make it easier for you to keep chugging when you’re going uphill? What habits would you like to form now so that inertia will be in your favor when you face resistance?

Robinson’s article describes glorious motives from Psalm 119 for such questions.

Check it out!

Last Chance to Enter Drawing

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So far, I have received 22 entries for our 2018 Bible-reading giveaway. If you’re still finishing up your readthrough, you have until tomorrow night to complete it. I will then give you until Monday to contact me before we select the winners of the new reader’s Bibles (CSB Reader’s Bible and NIV Sola Scriptura Bible Project). You may either email me at peter.krol@knowableword.com or submit a contact form. Just let me know that you finished, along with what you thought of the experience.

Next week, I’ll announce our two winners!

I love hearing what people think of this experience. Perhaps some of these thoughts may encourage you as well:

I love it. I’m thinking about doing it every quarter. I’m more in love with the Word than before. Thank you for the challenge.

It’s certainly not as daunting as I thought it might be.

I didn’t see before this what a big deal all the circumcision debates were in the New Testament church. Acts, and many of Paul’s letters address this controversy, but I didn’t notice that until I was rolling through a couple epistles a day in short succession.

The pace was truly exhilarating. I can’t help wondering where I go from here, this journey through the bible was truly amazing.

I heard a few patterns throughout the scripture that spanned over multiple books, that I would not have picked up normally at a slow reading pace. For example, the pattern of mountains (Eden – Ezekiel, Sinai – Genesis, and Zion – multiple references), no wonder people kept trying to make Asherah’s on the “High Places” (Judges).

I loved loved loved it!!! One of the most enjoyable things I have ever done. I really was surprised that I really enjoyed the Histories in the OT, not that I thought they should be removed at any point, but I remembered them from seminary as dry and repetitive, but this time I really enjoyed them. Also found myself seeing things I had not caught on one of my many first reads. I am now doing a slower daily reading to compliment my daily study time, I intend to do this challenge at the start of every year!!!

Happy Easter!