PIC No. 121: Pails in Comparison (Oct. 2, 2026)
Whoa! Stop whatever you're doing. I just discovered The Singing Bible—and I love it.
Actually, let me say it this way: If you love Scripture, if you love music, and you enjoy meditating on God’s Word, the Bible, you need to check this out.
And two words: BARBERSHOP QUARTET! Yes. You read that correctly. The Bible. Sung. In barbershop quartet style. I’m hooked.
“LET THE WORD OF CHRIST…SING!” The theme verse for The Singing Bible is Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you…”—where the Apostle Paul then immediately connects that with “singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.”
So somebody decided to take that seriously. Really seriously.
The Singing Bible has taken all 1,189 chapters of the Bible and turned them into music. Not selected passages. Not the “greatest hits.” The complete Bible.
And then they went crazy with the musical styles.
There are currently 22 styles, including Gospel, Jazz, Country, Reggae, Latin, Contemporary Pop, Hip-Hop, Rap, African Dance, Hard Rock, R&B/Soul, Dramatic/Opera, Gregorian Echoes, Choir of Angels—and, yes, Barbershop Quartet.
Jonah as a sea shanty? Of course. That might be the most obvious musical pairing since Noah and rain. Or try the Book of Esther, sung by a barbershop quartet. Really!
HERE’S THE MATH! You won't believe some of these numbers. The site currently has 52,316 chapter recordings. That's 22 musical styles × 2 voices × all 1,189 chapters.
And if you played the entire collection end-to-end, you'd be listening for about 4,500 hours—roughly six months of nonstop music.
Want to hear every song? Pick a different song every day and you won't repeat one for 143 years. A baby starting today could listen to a different song every day—and finish the library at age 143!
There are roughly 33 million words of Scripture set to music across the library. And yes, they even sing the genealogies. (Check out the way Nehemiah lists the priests and the Levites. Even the security guards got a mention! Here’s the barbershop version of Nehemiah 12!)
And “Obed begat Jesse” in Ruth has a jazz arrangement. I’m smiling just writing that. (Now I just listened to it. Toe-tapper—and a reminder of why Ruth has such a prominent place in the Old Testament.)
THERE’S MORE!
John 3—the “For God so loved the world” chapter—is available 44 different ways: every style, with both male and female voices. The Children's Choir sings the entire Bible in children's voices.
And you can also listen to the complete Bible in Spanish. Every style, male or female. Try Psalm 23 in the Latin genre. Or enjoy Reggae.
Want to listen through the entire Bible in one year? Plan to invest about 20 minutes a day—about three chapters.
And while you're listening, you can tap “View Bible Text” and follow the actual words of Scripture on the screen. (Three options: chapter, scroll, or one-verse-at-a-time.)
Every song even has its own link. So you can email or text someone a specific chapter and musical style. (One of our granddaughters loves the app!)
• “Hey, listen to this!”
• Much more inviting than, “Here’s a homework assignment. Read these 17 chapters.”
DID YOU KNOW?
• Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible—just two verses. And it is the exact middle chapter of the Bible: chapter 595 of 1,189.
• Meanwhile, Psalm 119, just two chapters away, is the longest chapter, with 176 verses. So, naturally, I had to listen to Psalm 117—with an R&B/Soul touch.
• And then I had to listen to another chapter. And another. That's how this works.
SO GRATEFUL!
Did I mention, I love this? The Singing Bible isn't just a clever technology project. It taps into my soul. Scripture tells us to sing. The Singing Bible notes (no pun intended) that God's Word mentions singing, songs, or making music to the Lord roughly 400 times.
So perhaps today, join me in not just reading the Word, but singing the Word. The Bible contains 66 books from Genesis to Revelation. Now imagine that entire library as one enormous songbook sitting in your pocket. No app download. No update. No complicated installation. You can add The Singing Bible to your phone's home screen and use it full-screen like an app. (Or download the free app.)
The Singing Bible is one of those resources that makes me wonder, “Why didn't somebody think of this sooner?” Did I mention? I especially love the Barbershop Quartet renditions.
But that's just me. Your favorite may be Gospel.
• Or Jazz.
• Or Country.
• Or Children's Choir.
• Or Hip-Hop.
• Or Gregorian Echoes.
• Or maybe—just maybe—the sea shanty version of Jonah!
Enjoy…and let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you.
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts” (Colossians 3:16 NIV).
PAILS IN COMPARISON: Discovering The Singing Bible reminded me of the Hoopla! Bucket and Young Life’s founder, Jim Rayburn, who said, “It’s a sin to bore a kid with the gospel.” Here are a few resources from my 20 Management Buckets organizing system and the Hoopla! Bucket.
[ ] The One Year® Book of Hymns: 365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns, compiled and edited by Robert K. Brown and Mark R. Norton; devotions written by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen. (Read my review.)
[ ] Podcast #14: “The Stories Behind the Hymns.” View this 8-minute video summary of my review of The One Year® Book of Hymns.
[ ] Podcast #15: "Little Is Much When God Is in It." View this remarkable video summary (8 minutes) of the gospel song by Kittie Suffield—and “the rest of the story.” Read John’s review here.
[ ] Reconstructing Faith: 365 Days to Reconsider Jesus, by Dick Daniels. (Read my review.)
[ ] John's "Going Home" Jukebox. Read and listen here to the 28 songs on John Pearson's "Going Home" Playlist.
LISTEN TO THE SINGING BIBLE. Visit The Singing Bible website to listen to any chapter in any book of the Bible. Check out the “20 Fun Facts” and the people that had the vision to create this amazing resource!
MORE RESOURCES:
• John Pearson’s Buckets Blog
• Subscribe: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews
• John Pearson’s book reviews on Amazon
• Management Buckets website
• Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations Blog
• John Pearson's Buckets Podcast (YouTube)
NOTE: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Pails in Comparison Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 100+ blogs posted (between 2022 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month.
© 2026 John W. Pearson. All rights reserved. New blogs for Pails in Comparison are posted every once in a while. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. By subscribing to Your Weekly Staff Meeting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.
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