The Short Version
- Performance: Simmons narrates his own translation with warm, pastoral authority; the devotional pace suits the material's contemplative intent across 36 hours.
- What it covers: Devotional encounter with scripture, emotional immediacy in Bible translation, spiritual transformation
- Feel: Meditative and intimate, with consistent warmth across a long runtime
- Our call: An audiobook best suited to listeners who want scripture encountered as living devotional text rather than scholarly document; the translation method and self-narration are inseparable here.
The craft choices embedded in Brian Simmons's Passion Translation are immediately legible from the first passages of this audiobook. Simmons, who translated and narrates the text, has made a deliberate decision to render the New Testament not as a document to be studied at arm's length but as a text to be encountered emotionally, viscerally, in the present tense of lived experience. Whether that choice constitutes a translation virtue or a theological overreach depends entirely on what you bring to the listening, and it is worth being clear about that before the opening lines of Matthew arrive. The 36-hour runtime is an immersive commitment, and what you get from it will depend significantly on what you bring to it.
The Verdict, Briefly
The Passion Translation presents itself as a heart-level rendering of scripture, one that foregrounds the emotional register of the original Greek and Aramaic texts rather than maintaining the formal distance of more literal translations. Simmons's stated goal is to trigger an overwhelming response to the truth of the Bible by unfolding what he calls the deep mysteries of the scriptures in the love language of God. That framing is either powerful or presumptuous depending on your theological convictions, and this audiobook will not attempt to settle that argument. What can be said more neutrally is that the prose Simmons has produced is distinctive, often lyrical, and consistently committed to an intimate register that distinguishes it sharply from the King James tradition and from contemporary translations like the ESV or NIV.
Consider the Psalm 5:3 rendering included in the book's own description: 'Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on the altar and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart.' That is not a neutral translation choice. It is a lyrical and interpretive one. Listeners who have spent years with more literal translations will hear the expansiveness immediately. Those coming to this edition as a devotional experience rather than a scholarly one will find exactly the kind of language that makes the text feel alive and personal rather than archival. Both responses are legitimate. The audiobook serves the second group far more directly than the first.
Why The Passion Translation: The New Testament (2nd Edition) Works as an Audiobook
Simmons narrates his own translation, and this is a significant production choice. His voice is warm, unhurried, and devotional in character. The consistent pastoral quality of Simmons's narration is what makes the 36-hour runtime sustainable. He reads not as an actor performing characters but as a teacher inviting listeners into a text he clearly loves and has spent years with. The in-depth footnotes, which include study notes, word studies, commentary, cross-references, and alternate translations, are incorporated into the audio presentation in a way that supports rather than interrupts the reading experience. They make clear that the Passion Translation is not a paraphrase like The Message but a translation with scholarly apparatus behind it, even if the resulting English sits at the interpretive end of the translation spectrum.
For listeners who use scripture primarily in devotional or contemplative practice rather than academic study, the audiobook format has a specific advantage here. Simmons's measured pace makes individual passages linger in a way that rapid reading does not allow. The John 7:37-38 passage, rendered as 'All you thirsty ones, come to me! Come to me and drink! Believe in me so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you,' has an oral quality that the translation was clearly designed to support. It reads as proclamation, which is how much of this material was originally delivered and originally received by its earliest audiences.
What Might Not Land
The Passion Translation has attracted both devoted readers and significant scholarly criticism since its initial publication. Critics within evangelical and academic theology have raised concerns about translation decisions that they argue introduce interpretive content not present in the source texts, and the second edition has addressed some but not all of those concerns. This review is not the place to adjudicate those disputes, but listeners who are aware of the controversy should know that the audiobook does not address it directly. Simmons's narration is confident and authoritative in register, and the footnotes present his translation choices as well-supported rather than contested. Listeners who want both sides of that debate will need to look elsewhere before committing to the full runtime.
For believers who have already connected with the Passion Translation in print and are looking to encounter it in audio form, this audiobook delivers exactly what the format can offer: extended, immersive, unhurried engagement with a text designed to be felt as well as understood. The 36-hour runtime is appropriate for the scope of the New Testament, and Simmons's consistency of tone across that length is an achievement in its own right.
The Right Listener for The Passion Translation: The New Testament (2nd Edition)
Christians and spiritual seekers who respond to devotional, emotionally immediate Bible language will find the Passion Translation audiobook a powerful listening experience. Those already familiar with the translation in print who want to hear Simmons narrate his own work will find the self-narration adds intimacy that proxy narrators cannot replicate. Listeners seeking a strictly literal or scholarly translation should look at ESV or NASB audio editions instead; this translation's interpretive choices are foregrounded rather than concealed. Those skeptical of Simmons's translation method but curious about the text would do better to read scholarly reviews before committing to 36 hours of audio. This is a work for those who already sense the Passion Translation is for them, not for those still deciding.
How does the Passion Translation audiobook differ from standard Bible audio recordings like the KJV or NIV?
The Passion Translation prioritizes emotional and devotional immediacy over formal equivalence. Its English is more interpretive and lyrical than most standard translations, and Simmons's self-narration reinforces that devotional register throughout.
Is Brian Simmons narrating the audiobook himself, and how does that affect the listening experience?
Yes. Simmons narrates his own translation, which gives the audio an intimate, pastoral quality. He reads as a teacher who loves the text rather than a professional narrator, and that distinction shapes the entire 36-hour audiobook experience.
