EDIT Sept. 19. 2014: see also this new post:
Markus Barth has authored a....
I'm thinking of buying
Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries: New Testament (27 volumes), it's on sale right now for $449.99 until Feb. 24. 2014.
The interesting volumes are:
Mk, Jn, 1-2 Cor, Gal, Col, Philem, Jas, 1 Pt, 2 Pt-Jude. Maybe also 1-2 Thess, see explanation below.
... that's 12 volumes (Jn (Roman-Catholics said on Christianforums in 2005 that Brown on Jn is a classic but just
Catholic) and Mk are two volumes each, see also this post:
good commentary on Mk which is in this thread). Or 13 volumes if counting 1-2 Thess. I've had the Mk 8-16 volumes once earlier on (in the Summer 2013) but returned it to Logos within 30 days for a refund, that volume did give Jewish insights and references.
Read this post:
http://www.christianforums.com/t6807604/#post43234042 ... someone who has a lot of commentaries is saying that after 25 years New Testament commentaries start to get old.
An example: The Galatians volume would cost me $44.36 as printed matter from Italy (free shipping):
Galatians by J.Louis Martyn: Yale University Press, New Haven 9780300139853 - Deastore.
Here are 8, all positive, reviews of the Galatians volume:
Product Reviews: Galatians (Anchor Bible): Amazon.com.
I haven't looked through thoroughly, but I think that very few of the volumes cost little, and several cost more than $44 including shipping to over here. Whether to buy the set depends on if I really am interested in all these 12 volumes.
One more example of a review,
The Epistles of John (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries).
EDIT Oct. 19. 2014: see this newly updated discussion - there's for example the Philippians volume - a bit of extra value for me as I'm thinking of choosing the Col/Philippians for class and Master's thesis:
Any better NT commentary than AYB w/ "Gnosticism" ref.?. There's also a bit more discussion, such as about the NIB, see also the below quote from this thread from Sept. 2014:
Just like all major sets except New Interpreter's Bible (which came out during a short period of time), some of the AYBC series volumes are dated (don't look strictly at how old the volumes are, some volumes that You may think are new enough should be replaced with something else, and a couple of old volumes are still great!), but other than that it's great for introductions and historical-critical commentary. From the Old Testament and Apocrypha I've bought Proverbs 1-9 in Logos, and Isaiah 56-66, Job and 1-2 Esdras as printed matter - the latter two are old but good, especially Job. If I would be researching that book at this point, the two Exodus volumes would be a great addition!
A feature of Anchor Bible is that it has transliterated original languages, which means You don't need to be able to read the Greek alphabet (which I do read), but the original languages are still used - sometimes extensively and sometimes knowing a bit of Greek is a requisite.
The Anchor Bible is verse-by-verse commentary. I would not buy it as printed matter as You newer know which volume You might suddenly want to use and therefore it would be troublesome to carry around printed volumes, plus most of the print volumes are expensive.
The Anchor Bible volumes I'm interested in are highly rated on Amazon with no negative reviews, some four star and mostly five star reviews. EDIT: having browsed all reviews on amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, logos, accordance and goodreads I found ONE negative rating altogether (it's not a review), it's on the James -volume, the average rating is 4.13 - one rating (not a review) gave just two stars (out of five possible):
The Letter of James (Anchor Bible) - goodreads. Anyway, I'm not going to be looking for even better commentaries on Colossians for many years so this Anchor volume would do in the meantime.
Malherbe on 1-2 Thess in Anchor Bible seems to be recommended by everyone. It's just that it would be a bit superfluous for me since I have the Believer's Church Bible Commentary -volume by Jacob W. Elias, 1995 and I've pre-ordered the Aug. 2015 ICC -volume by Karl P. Donfried.
However, if I would calculate the 1-2 Thess Anchor Bible volume to be worth $20 for me, dividing the remaining $429.99 by 12 the average price would be $35.80 a volume. Dividing $449.99 by 13 the average price would be $34.60 a volume. For cost a page, see:
Is ¢5.1-¢11½ a page too much for partially old sets? Commentaries+Greek syntax&semant ... I excluded 1-2 Thess from that calculation.
Accordance Bible Study software forum:
Here's a discussion of the Anchor Bible:
The Anchor Bible Is on Sale: Value for a Biblicist?.
Here's a discussion on the Accordance forum about the sale and comparison to other commentary sets:
http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12127#entry56089.
Here's a little bit about one of the authors in the Anchor Bible New Testament series, Luke Timothy Johnson:
http://www.christianforums.com/t7527468-post56544840/#post56544840.
Here's a little more:
Luke Timothy Johnson
Here's a new blog post about the features in Anchor Bible in Accordance:
Anchor Yale Bible Commentary in Accordance.
Here's a thread about using commentaries in general:
What do you thump, bible or commentary? ... I'm not sure I agree with that though:
I'm not THAT interested in the Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek, but I was glancing:
Original Languages Library (JG) - Logos Bible Software
[...]
Here's some more good practical commentaries I recommend, printed or if You have the software anyway: as electronic, except that some of them are thick but those are by very good/renowned authors (Bauckham) or on very important books of the Bible (1 Pt):
Craig Morrison: 2 Samuel (Berit Olam -series), Liturgical Press, ~June 30. 2012
Phillip McFadyen: Open Door on Mark, Triangle, 1997 142 pages
Paul Achtemeier: 1 Peter (Hermeneia -series), Fortress Press, 1996 423 pages, verse-by-verse
EDIT Feb. 22.: I just noticed: there's a sale on
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Vol. 1 by Thrall, it covers 2 Cor 1-7, and it's the very best commentary on that part of the Bible. See my review on the product page. Sale price $44.95.
Previously edited by Unix; 20th February 2014 at 10:49 PM local time. Reason: links: to discussion and to Cambridge Gk Testament Mk
Previously edited by Unix; 21st February 2014 at 12:38 AM local time. Reason: add about Luke Timothy Johnson
Previously edited by Unix; 21st February 2014 at 1:11 AM local time. Reason: yet another link about Luke Timothy Johnson
Previously edited by Unix; 21st February 2014 at 1:29 AM local time. Reason: link to blog post about features
Previously edited by Unix; 21st February 2014 at 1:37 AM local time. Reason: adjustment to volumes
Previously edited by Unix; 21st February 2014 at 4:23 PM local time. Reason: example volume (Gal) on amazon & abebooks
Previously edited by Unix; 21st February 2014 at 5:37 PM local time. Reason: about the Col -volume, Malherbe on 1-2 Thess
Previously edited by Unix; 21st February 2014 at 7:31 PM local time. Reason: add the What do you thump, bible or commentary? -part
Previously edited by Unix; 22nd February 2014 at 2:50 AM local time. Reason: add one opinion about 25 year old commentaries starting to get old, and that Brown on Jn is classic
Previously edited by Unix; 22nd February 2014 at 3:15 AM local time. Reason: Feb. 2014 sale on the best technical commentary 2 Cor chapters 1-7 &add link to discussion about the sale on Accordance forum
Previously edited by Unix; 22nd February 2014 at 2:37 PM local time. Reason: Epistles of John review, Only negative rating (James), Link to cost a page
Previously edited by Unix; 19th September 2014 at 4:40 PM local time. Reason: new post SEPT. 2014 about new Accordance sale and the Eph -volumes, removed a couple of lines