You can listen to the Psalms free and without ads in the Bible Garden app for iPhone and iPad. It has four complete recordings of all 150 psalms: the Berean Standard Bible read by Bob Souer (4 h 18 min) and by David (4 h 34 min), the World English Bible read by Winfred Henson (4 h 58 min), and the British Edition of the World English Bible, whose narrator is not named (4 h 2 min). An average psalm takes under two minutes, so you can hear one on a short walk, or the whole book in a month at 8–10 minutes a day. Below: how to play a psalm, why Psalm 23 is Psalm 22 in some Bibles, and how to listen slowly enough to pray.
Four recordings of the Psalms
| Narrator | Translation | Music | All 150 psalms | Psalm 119, the longest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Souer | Berean Standard Bible (BSB) | No | 4 h 18 min | 15 min |
| David | Berean Standard Bible (BSB) | No | 4 h 34 min | 15 min |
| Winfred Henson | World English Bible (WEB), US edition | No | 4 h 58 min | 17 min |
| Not named by the publisher | World English Bible, British Edition (WEBBE) | No | 4 h 2 min | 14 min |
Durations come from the app's MP3 files at normal speed, measured on October 4, 2026.
None of the English recordings has background music. The two editions of the World English Bible differ in more than spelling: the US edition renders God's name as "Yahweh," so Psalm 23 opens "Yahweh is my shepherd," while the British Edition reads "The LORD is my shepherd." Before you choose a narrator, the app plays a voice sample. More about each one: "Audio Bible narrators."
Psalm 23 is short enough to compare the voices: each reading takes less than a minute.
Listen to Psalm 23 read by each narrator
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
1 Yahweh is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever.
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the LORD’s house forever.
How to play a psalm
- Open Classic Reading and choose the book of Psalms.
- Choose a chapter: in Psalms, each chapter is one psalm.
- In the settings, choose a translation and a narrator.
The text is highlighted as the narrator reads, so you can follow along. Audio keeps playing in the background, and you can pause and resume it from the lock screen. The next psalm starts automatically; to stop after one, turn off autoplay in the settings. The app marks a psalm as read on its own.
Bible Garden is free, with no ads or in-app purchases, and its code is open source. You need an internet connection to listen, since audio cannot be downloaded in advance yet. The app runs on iPhone and iPad; listening right on this website and an Android version are in our plans. For other free apps, see "Free audio Bible apps."
Why psalm numbers differ between Bibles
All the English translations in the app (BSB, WEB, and WEBBE) number the psalms by the Hebrew text, as Protestant Bibles and most modern Catholic translations do. Eastern Orthodox Bibles and Catholic liturgical texts such as the Roman Missal follow the Greek Septuagint (Wikipedia). The Septuagint joins Psalms 9 and 10 and Psalms 114 and 115, and splits Psalms 116 and 147. As a result, the numbers match only for Psalms 1–8 and 148–150; for most of the rest, the Greek number is one lower.
| Opening line (BSB) | BSB and WEB (Hebrew) | Septuagint numbering | Bob Souer |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Lord is my shepherd" | 23 | 22 | 0:45 |
| "God is our refuge and strength" | 46 | 45 | 1:24 |
| "Have mercy on me, O God" | 51 | 50 | 2:07 |
| "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High" | 91 | 90 | 1:32 |
| "Blessed are those whose way is blameless" | 119 | 118 | 14:31 |
| "I lift up my eyes to the hills" | 121 | 120 | 0:45 |
| "O Lord, You have searched me and known me" | 139 | 138 | 2:28 |
In the app, the Russian Synodal and Kulakov translations and the Ukrainian New Translation (NPU) use the Greek numbering; the Ukrainian Khomenko translation uses the Hebrew one. So if a friend reading a Russian Bible mentions Psalm 50, they mean Psalm 51 in yours.
Listen slowly: pauses after each verse
The Psalms are prayers and songs, and played back to back they can easily fade into background noise. In the reading settings, you can add a pause after every verse: a few seconds, or a full stop until you tap Play. After "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want," you then have time to repeat the line to yourself.
Pauses add time: three seconds after each verse adds about two hours to the whole book, and 18 seconds to the six verses of Psalm 23. To hear a verse again, the previous and next verse buttons jump to the exact start of a verse, and tapping Play during a pause skips it.
Two translations, verse by verse
Multi Reading is Bible Garden's key feature. Each verse plays in several translations in a row, with a pause between them: for example, first the BSB read by Bob Souer, then the WEB read by Winfred Henson. On screen, each verse appears in both translations. Hearing a line twice in different words helps it sink in.
For the Psalms, pair the BSB with the WEB: both use the Hebrew numbering, and their verse counts match in all 150 psalms. Multi Reading lines up verses by their order within the same chapter number and does not convert psalm numbers. Paired with a Russian translation, it would play different psalms: BSB Psalm 23 alongside Synodal Psalm 23, which is Psalm 24 in the BSB.
With two translations, listening takes about twice as long, so Multi Reading works best for one or two psalms at a time. To set it up, see "Bilingual Bible App"; to compare the translations themselves, see "Which Bible translation is best?" To read the Psalms as part of the whole Bible, the one-year plan covers them on days 261–365.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I listen to the Psalms for free without ads?
In the free Bible Garden app for iPhone and iPad. The Berean Standard Bible is read by Bob Souer and David, the World English Bible by Winfred Henson, and its British Edition by an uncredited narrator. The app has no ads or in-app purchases.
How long does it take to listen to all the Psalms?
About 4 hours 18 minutes with Bob Souer, 4 hours 34 minutes with David, 4 hours 58 minutes with Winfred Henson, and 4 hours 2 minutes for the British Edition. An average psalm takes under two minutes; the longest, Psalm 119, takes 14 to 17 minutes.
Why is Psalm 23 numbered 22 in some Bibles?
The English translations in Bible Garden, like Protestant Bibles and most modern Catholic ones, number the psalms by the Hebrew text, while Orthodox Bibles and Catholic liturgical texts follow the Greek Septuagint. The numbers match only for Psalms 1–8 and 148–150; for most others, the Greek number is one lower.
Which recordings of the Psalms have no music?
All four English recordings in Bible Garden are voice only, without background music.
Can I listen to the Psalms offline?
Not yet. Bible Garden streams audio over the internet, and downloading it in advance is not available.