The Bible Gateway website currently offers a total of 28 translations of the Old Testament, New Testament, or the whole Bible in 13 languages. This means, of course, that there are multiple translations in some languages such as Chinese and Arabic, for both of which there are two audio versions available, and English, for which there are 14 audio versions.

If you want to try one of these audio Bible versions, it’s as simple as clicking on the red speaker icon next to the translation name whenever you pull up a scripture verse or chapter on BibleGateway.com. Alternately, you can click “Audio Bibles” in the drop down menu under the “Bible” tab at the top left hand side of any Bible Gateway page.
  
For non-English speakers, or those trying to learn the Scriptures in a second language, the range of non-English audio Bibles is not as extensive as the “printed” versions Bible Gateway has available, however, and there are some odd gaps. There is a Platdeutsch (Low German) version, but no Hochdeutsch (High German) version that perhaps more German speakers would utilize.  But Bible Gateway may well face licensing and availability issues with many audio foreign language versions, and the ones that are given are appreciated.

If you are using English, going to the Audio Bible page allows you to choose among the different versions available such as straight reading or dramatized versions.   It’s worth spending a few minutes to try the available versions to see which one works best for you. We particularly like the readings by Max McLean, but your auditory preferences/mileage may differ.

One thing is certain, even if you like to read the Bible on the printed page, listening to the words being read out can be extremely profitable.  After all, that’s how the biblical books were originally intended to be experienced – as the spoken word – but simply hearing the words rather than reading them can often help you “hear” things in the text that you had not noticed in reading.  Sometimes it’s a matter of the stress evident in the spoken word or the effect of getting the message in a different way, as though someone is speaking directly to us, but it can be profitable as well as relaxing to hear the Bible through speakers or headphones.

In addition to the audio Bibles they have available, Bible Gateway also offers several audio devotionals and the short audio resource “Sound Bites” from The Book – a one-minute radio program done in partnership with the Museum of the Bible that features unusual stories, news items and interesting facts about the Scriptures.

Bible Gateway offers a good number of resources to help you in your study of the Bible.  If you are a regular visitor to the TacticalChristianity.org and LivingWithFaith.org websites, you know that we have several articles pointing out the advantages of utilizing some of these aids (click on the Bible Study category on the right margin of this page to see those articles).  The BibleGateway audio Bible page is no exception.  If you haven’t used it yet, be sure to try it –  you may be surprised how often physically hearing the Bible can help us in our quest to spiritually hear it. 

Zylstra’s article then quotes BibleGateway.com statistics showing that Psalms was the most popular book of the Bible last year, and that almost a quarter of the 100 most popular Bible verses searched for online in 2015 came from that book.  Additionally, about a quarter of Americans have a favorite scripture, and for a quarter of those people that favorite scripture came from the Psalms – far more than from any other book.  

Conversely, however, the article also highlighted another important recent finding on Psalms. Data compiled from social media show that the Book of Psalms also contains half of the least-popular Bible verses circulated on Twitter, with 13 of them receiving only a single tweet in 2015. Psalms that seem to speak of vengeance and violence are just not as popular.  

Psalms is the book of the Old Testament most quoted by Jesus, and it was one of the most important books in the Bible for the early Church.  It is enduringly important even today and has a tremendous ongoing impact on people in every walk of life.  Yet Psalms is a book which many people do not know well – or only know parts of it well.  We tend to know the comforting parts and often avoid, misunderstand, or miss the point of other parts.

If you would like to better know this important biblical book – including the “hard” parts – download our new, free e-book Spotlight on the Psalms.  By providing insights into all the major categories of psalms, this book shows how even difficult psalms, such as those apparently promoting violence, can be better understood, as well as shedding light on the better known and well-loved psalms.

Spotlight on the Psalms is available in three formats (including PDF which can be read on any computer) and if you have not already done so, you can download your free copy here.  You already know the importance of the psalms; why not get to know and understand them much better?

​The list of most visited verses was of itself perhaps not very surprising  (the top five verses were John 3:16, Jeremiah 29:11, Philippians 4:13, Romans 8:28 and Psalm 23:4). More illuminating is the chapter by chapter graphic produced by BibleGateway showing exactly which Bible chapters saw the most search traffic.

That chapter by chapter chart showed clear visitor focus on the  Gospels and Epistles, on Genesis, Exodus, Psalms and Proverbs. But even though the numbers show a much greater focus on New Testament books compared to those of the Old Testament, there were some noticeably neglected areas within the Old Testament itself.

As BibleGateway’s Andy Rau wrote in a recent Christianity Today article (which you can read here): “There’s a particularly noticeable engagement gap regarding the books of the Old Testament prophets, whose words and actions are connected to specific (and lesser-known) moments in the history of Israel.”

This apparent neglect of prophetic writings is also reflected in the fact that the Book of Revelation appears to be BibleGateway’s least visited book  (or certainly one of them) in the New Testament.  

Why would the Bible’s prophetic writings be relatively neglected by millions of Christians in this way? The answers are probably complex.  Certainly many find the symbolism and verbal imagery utilized by some of the prophets to be somewhat daunting and difficult to understand.  Prophecy can seem like an almost alien literary genre for those unused to reading the Bible, and many shy away from the prophetic books for that reason alone.  In other cases people have been “burned” by unsuccessful modern interpretations of prophecies and by the commonly perceived “wild eyed and mystical” nature of the prophets themselves.

Yet despite whatever reasons people may have for avoiding them, the prophetic books of the Bible are unquestionably worth the investment of the modern Christian’s study time.  The Hebrew prophet or Nabi was not just a deliverer of oracles of impending or distant events – the prophet was primarily a spokesperson for God who delivered many kinds of messages. Think about just three types of messages found in the prophetic  books that you may not have considered as much as you might:

1) The prophets are the unequaled commentators on social justice in the ancient world.  A great deal of what many of the prophets have to say is regarding social problems of their day that are just as real in ours.  Read Amos 5:7-24 for just one example.

2) The Old Testament prophets speak constantly to God’s covenant relation with ancient Israel.  The prophets were the spiritual “marriage counselors” addressing problems of  the divine husband-wife community of that covenant.  Their inspired advice is often just as relevant  to  our relationship with God today, even if the details may be different. And yes, some of what the prophets say is good marriage advice on the human marriage relation level too (Malachi 2:14-16). 

3) Not all prophecies are of doom and gloom!  Many prophecies speak of restoration and renewal of the human relationship with God (see Isaiah 60, for example), and these find their apex in the many predictions of the promised Messiah.  Just reading all the Old Testament messianic prophecies can be tremendously illuminating and  faith strengthening.  If you have never hunted down these prophesies in the Old Testament, at least work backwards by reading the New Testament  and checking the scripture cross references or notes of your Bible (use a version on BibleGateway if your Bible doesn’t have them). Whenever you come to words regarding the Messiah in quotes, read the cross referenced passages in context, looking at the section of Scripture in which they appear.  You may be surprised  how much more the prophets say regarding Christ that did not find its way into the New Testament quotations.

These points are not meant to diminish the lasting value of other things found within the prophetic writings – including even the darkest oracles delivered against people and cities long disappeared. We understand that all Scripture was inspired and is of value (2 Timothy 3:16-17), but we don’t always read the Bible keeping that in mind. 

If you are new to reading the prophets, try starting  with one of the minor prophetic books – ideally Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Take a look at the article “Malachi: A Story of Love and Legal Proceedings” on our sister site here, then try reading Malachi and judging how much of value you found within the book.  Or take a look at the Jonah story from a new angle by reading our article “A Tale of Two Prophets” here, then read Jonah and Nahum.

If you have read the prophets before, but have neglected reading them recently, give them another try.  Setting up specific goals for study – such as looking for the three points mentioned above – can help demonstrate just how much of value there is in these amazing books.
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In the Christianity Today article we mentioned earlier, Andy Rau urged BibleGateway  visitors to give the prophetic books some time this year. We agree.  It’s invariably an investment of time that is amply rewarded.   In fact, if you read them, you may wish you hadn’t avoided them as long as you did.