Some time ago I read an article in Bible Study magazine where the person being interviewed said that every year he read through the Bible and a commentary series. I can't remember who that was. Has anyone tried this? Do you have any suggestions? I have 2 concerns. The first one of course is which commentary to use. The second one is how to break it down the daily readings. I am thinking about using a daily Bible reading plan and following along in the commentary. I want to do my daily readings 6 days a week.
Hi Michael, I’ve done two bible reading plans before, each finishing in about a year. Adding a shorter commentary would be good to essentially read the Bible twice in a year. If you’re ok with reading every day, I would (can’t stress this enough) HIGHLY recommend signing up for the weekly emails from and doing the Bible Project reading plan. The videos and bonus blog posts each week are very helpful, like a non-reading short commentary.
And as for a good commentary for this task, I’d definitely suggest a shorter one unless you have all day and night to read. The Tyndale Old and New Testament series is considered more devotional and brief and is also highly rated and recommended throughout. The good news there is it looks like it’ll be 40% off in a few days too from the March Matchups deals. Not sure how such a quality resource would be voted out so early, but a sale is a sale. Regardless, it’s a high quality commentary which is meant to be shorter in length and easier to just read along.
https://www.logos.com/product/201777/tyndale-commentaries-totc-tntc
Justin: Hi Michael, I’ve done two bible reading plans before, each finishing in about a year. Adding a shorter commentary would be good to essentially read the Bible twice in a year. If you’re ok with reading every day, I would (can’t stress this enough) HIGHLY recommend signing up for the weekly emails from and doing the Bible Project reading plan. The videos and bonus blog posts each week are very helpful, like a non-reading short commentary. And as for a good commentary for this task, I’d definitely suggest a shorter one unless you have all day and night to read. The Tyndale Old and New Testament series is considered more devotional and brief and is also highly rated and recommended throughout. The good news there is it looks like it’ll be 40% off in a few days too from the March Matchups deals. Not sure how such a quality resource would be voted out so early, but a sale is a sale. Regardless, it’s a high quality commentary which is meant to be shorter in length and easier to just read along. https://www.logos.com/product/201777/tyndale-commentaries-totc-tntc
Thanks Justin. I have completed a number of reading plans over the years. I have read through the Bible in 90 days a few times. For a number of years I used the Bible Pathway with an online group I was a member in. I have also used Larry Richard's 365 Day Devotional Commentary, available in Logos. Thanks for the tip on the Bible Project I will check it out. Tyndale Commentary is on my list along with the Interpretation Commentary which is a bit shorter than the Tyndale. There are a number of other commentaries that would suit this purpose as well. Based on my reading schedule of 6 days a week Tyndale Commentary will take about 43 pages a day and Interpretation Commentary will take about 30 pages a day. Both are doable for me. I am currently working through the Smyth Helwys Commentary on Matthew. I have it free for the month of March with a subscription. I have about another week of readings to complete it so I will be well ahead of schedule. I already have both Tyndale and Interpretation and a good number of other commentary sets. Not too much in March Matchup for me this year though I will probably top up some sets that I have some missing volumes.
Michael,
I saw where the Tyndale commentaries were recommended to you. They are excellent and would be a good choice, if you can pull it off to read that much. Another good option would be Thomas Constable's Notes - which are really a mid-level commentary.
Personally, rather than a commentary set, I would probably recommend reading the notes from a good study Bible along with your daily readings. the two I would recommend are The MacArthur Study Bible and The ESV Study Bible - both available in Logos. Another good option that I also use personally would be Nelson's Old Testament Survey and Nelson's New Testament Survey. They are basically a chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph commentary on the entire Bible. More in-depth than any study Bible but not like a full commentary set. Think of them as a two-volume commentary on the whole Bible.
Keep studying!
Greg Corbin: Michael, I saw where the Tyndale commentaries were recommended to you. They are excellent and would be a good choice, if you can pull it off to read that much. Another good option would be Thomas Constable's Notes - which are really a mid-level commentary. Personally, rather than a commentary set, I would probably recommend reading the notes from a good study Bible along with your daily readings. the two I would recommend are The MacArthur Study Bible and The ESV Study Bible - both available in Logos. Another good option that I also use personally would be Nelson's Old Testament Survey and Nelson's New Testament Survey. They are basically a chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph commentary on the entire Bible. More in-depth than any study Bible but not like a full commentary set. Think of them as a two-volume commentary on the whole Bible. Keep studying!
Thanks Greg. I have been using study bible notes and one volume commentaries but I want something that will take me a bit deeper. I am retired and don't have a lot of responsibilities so I have more time for study than perhaps some others do. I have settled on the Tyndale Commentaries. It should take me about an hour and a half to two hours a day. Even if it takes longer I am good with that. I can either increase my time each day or extend the length of time for my plan. Either way I will be far ahead of where I would have been without a plan. Thanks again for your suggestions.
While Tyndale would certainly not be a bad choice, if I were doing this, I think I would use The Bible Speaks Today. It will be more devotional and include applications, while dealing responsibly with the text.
Justin Gatlin: While Tyndale would certainly not be a bad choice, if I were doing this, I think I would use The Bible Speaks Today. It will be more devotional and include applications, while dealing responsibly with the text.
Thanks Justin. That is a great suggestion. BST is a good series and the total page count is at a reasonable amount.
I dare someone to try this with the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary series!
Josh: I dare someone to try this with the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary series!
I'm willing to try if you buy the series for me
Josh you might have to make that a double dare. ;) By the way how many pages are in the set?
Looks like 17,241 pages in the NT, OT looks like 31,907 pages.
Total of 49,148 pages, give or take a few.
Thanks Bruce. That's about 1,000 pages a week. A bit of a challenge for sure. Definitely worth a double dare.