The Breathe Bible Audio New Testament, NLT comes packaged in a heavy chipboard box with a slipcover. Inside the chipboard box is where you will find the "binder" (for lack of a better word) of 18 CDs. The binder has a sturdy chipboard cover with plastic CD storage sleeves inside. (CD storage sleeves are directly attached to the cover. There are no rings or other mechanisms.)
Inside the binder cover are some references to popular portions of Scripture with notation of where you can find them. (Ex: "The Beatitudes", Matthew 5:3-11, Disc 1, Track 5) This is a handy quick reference, but other than looking on the cover of the CDs themselves, this is the only reference of what Scriptures are on which discs...and it is incomplete. I would have appreciated the full reference list to also be placed on the product packaging itself, rather than multiple references to the actors who are involved in the project.
There are a total of 18 audio CDs in the Breathe Bible Audio New Testament, NLT collection. Each CD has around 75 minutes of content, with the total New Testament dramatization coming in at 21 hours. This contains only the New Testament - this is not the full NLT Bible in audio form.
Each voice/character in the text is read by a different actor/artist. Some of the actors do seem a bit lackluster compared to other dramatizations I have heard, but I wouldn't consider this version to be boring. In the background, there is music along with some mild sound effects. Although this may not be as "exciting" as some of the other dramatized versions, it is a definite plus that it is mild enough that you can clearly hear the words being spoken. There is no audio mark of where you are in the text (Ex: the narrator will not say "Matthew 5"); there are, however, track breaks between each chapter.
As for the text, it is read almost word-for-word from the NLT (New Living Translation). I say "almost" word-for-word, because there are instances where a person is quoted in the NLT with something like "he said" or "the man said" stated in the text, but those are not included. Also, portions of the text such as "Then Jesus said to him" (in Matthew 8:4) are often omitted completely, even when the narrator was already talking. Even little clues in the text, such as the word "shouting" are excluded from the phrase "The disciples went and woke him up, shouting..." (in Matthew 8:25).
Here's an example from Matthew 8:
NLT text of Matthew 8: 1-4a -
1 Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside.
2 Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.
4 Then Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about this."...
Breathe Bible Audio New Testament, NLT dramatization of Matthew 8:1-4a -
1 Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside.
2 Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”
3 Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing, be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.
4 “Don’t tell anyone about this."...
Sure, things like this make it more movie-like, but since you are not able to see the actors, it can be difficult to tell who is talking. It can also make it harder to follow along if you are trying to read along with the NLT text.
Although this may seem like a small change, it really has a bigger impact than I think the creators of this project realized. Imagine only being able to listen to a story without having clues as to who is talking. Without reading along in the NLT (which will skip around a bit because the text is not identical to what is being read), you may have no idea who is doing the talking.
If the full word-for-word text had been included in the Breathe Bible Audio New Testament, NLT dramatization, I would have rated this higher. The packaging, the background music and sound effects, the music to voice ratio...all of these were great...but I just felt that the content was changed enough by these "minor" changes to the text that it makes a difference in how I will recommend this product.
If you do choose to buy the Breathe Bible Audio New Testament, NLT, I would definitely recommend that you sit down with an NLT version of the Bible to follow along while you listen.
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