Dec
30
2009
ESV Reading Plans as Podcasts
Thanks to Mike Anderson for reminding me that you can also subscribe to the ESV audio podcast in such a way that it coincides with the reading schedules. Here’s how to subscribe to this in iTunes:
- Go to the ESV Reading Plans page.
- Right-click (Ctrl-click on a Mac) the “RSS” link of the feed you want.
- Choose “Copy Link Location” or “Copy Shortcut.”
- Start iTunes.
- Choose Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast
- Paste the URL from step three into the box.
- Click OK.
In listening to an old lecture recently by J. I. Packer, he made the comment that it was not until after the 17th century (as far as he could tell) that people started doing silent prayers and reading as opposed to praying and reading out loud.
For most evangelicals, silence represents the vast majority of our reading and praying. But I wonder if that’s to our detriment. One of the great enemies to Bible reading and praying is a wandering mind—and one of the great ways to make your mind wander is to do everything in your mind without involving your voice and ears!
. . . Here’s something else to consider: the entire Bible on audio is usually about 75 hours (or 4500 minutes). If you commute to work 5 days a week, that’s about 260 days a year. And if it takes you, say, 17 minutes to commute each way to work—and if you listen to the Bible on audio during your drive each way—you’ll get through the entire Bible twice in a year.
16 Comments
Very excited to hear that the reading plan was available as a podcast, unfortunately when you listen to it in iTunes the first word of a verse is often cutoff :-(
Thanks for sharing this. I didn’t know about the podcasts.
Just a thought, but in today’s culture, music and audio are often background noise. Unless one is intentionally listening to an audio Bible, multi-tasking habits usually kick in, and when that occurs, listening to the Bible while driving is no better than listening to another radio station – often without focus.
However, if your commute or travel is by plane, bus, subway, or some other form of transportation in which you are a passenger, then I see great value in spending your time listening to the Bible.
[...] 31, 2009 at 9:28 am · Filed under Uncategorized Justin Taylor explains how here. But is it OK to listen to God’s word? Well I think it’s good to reed and meditate too, but [...]
[...] has been posting some very good Bible Reading Plans and helps that can be found here, here, and here. He also posted The Bible Reading Plan for Shirkers and Slackers that looks really [...]
Does Crossway/GNPCB offer an XML link for non-iPod MP3 users? The above address did not work for me.
Great highlight! I used the ESV podcast the whole of this year and it was very helpful; I plan to do it again in the new year
Sorry to nitpick, but there seems to be some debate over this – for e.g., see here.
Of course, whether or not this was the case, it doesn’t change your good point that it’d be to our benefit to hear God’s Word read aloud.
[...] also explains how to sign up for these plans as podcasts in iTunes. (They don’t show up in the music store, but you can still easily add [...]
[...] to Justin Taylor for pointing out that you can also subscribe to the ESV audio podcast in several ways: Web, RSS, [...]
[...] Reading Plans for the coming year, and instructions on how to subscribe to the plans as [...]
[...] There are numerous other Bible plans available and several tools to help you with them. Justin Taylor points to some of these here, here, and here. You can also listen to through the Bible in a year (see here). [...]
[...] http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2009/12/30/esv-reading-plans-as-podcasts-2/ Written by nickstromwall in: Uncategorized | [...]
[...] I plan to listen to the entire Bible for the year. Commuting in my car to work seems the ideal time. I spend an hour and a half roughly each day in there. I can definitely squeeze 15 minutes into that space [...]
[...] each of which allow for each daily segment to be sent to your e-mail address or as a podcast here. You can chose one of 20 plans [...]
[...] You can print out PDFs of bible reading plans to keep with your (gasp) printed bible, or read online via web / RSS / email / iCal / mobile, or you can listen to the ESV as a podcast. [...]