Thought it‘d be fun to do one of these posts! What are your top 3-10 resources that you read for almost any passage you study (or even for devotional purposes)? For a bonus rank them! And if you just wanna get crazy, give the order that you read them sequentially!
Here’s mine sequentially then ranked:
1. #2 NLT (most readable Bible translation imo)
2. #1 ESV (most readable word for word Bible translation)
3. #3 Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge (best cross-reference)
4. #7 ESV Study Bible (great to look at quickly for difficult verses)
5. #5 Matthew Poole’s Commentary (almost always, Poole addresses textual question I am battling through)
6. #4 Jonathan Edwards’ Blank Bible (pure unrefined glory!)
7. #6 Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Hawker is so enamored with the beauty and love of Jesus that I can’t help but have some of it rub off on me. Great for devotional use)
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Orthodox Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."
1. NABRE (like the notes)
2. Multiview with primary commentaries
3. Text Comparison showing translations sorted by date (500s +)
"I didn't know God made honky tonk angels."
In general as a non expert:
1 BTX (mother tongue)
2 ESV
3 LEB (very good at clarifying certain key concepts by using correct rendering) e.g.
"9 And Yahweh will be king over all the earth; on that day Yahweh will be one and his name one."
Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Zec 14:9). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Note how LEB render of Zec 14:9 puts it plain and simple, (may burst some people's bubble), but that way misconstruction of doctrine is avoided.
4 Bible reference search under different traditions to see their angle. https://faithlife.com/logos-product-collections/activity
5 particular resources as required to clarify findings in 4.
By using the above non scientific rough method, one can tell wheat from chaff in an easy, works for me way. Further study then should ensue to deepen in the topic.
These are my current favorites:
1. NRSV / ESV / TEV2. United Bible Societies' Handbooks3. Exegetical Summaries4. Word Biblical Commentary5. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary6. Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary7. Commentary on the NT use of the OT8. Socio-Rhetoical Commentary Series9. BDAG