The title makes it sound like I demand the best - almost like a contradiction. Because I imply owning one or two electronic Bible Study software licenses of commentary volumes as well as a print volumes in order to be able to read together with someone and/or have access everywhere in all situations. But to explain what my actual question is:
- If I want to read a commentary volume alongside a book in the Bible, checking the commentary as I read and intend to read through, ...
- which volumes would You recommend (from about any series)?, ...
- ... which are a bit semi-technical in pointing out things for which You would have had to have specialized training/knowledge (but OK if using a lexicon) in order to have guessed straight from the English, Hebrew or Greek Bible text itself what the commentary is about to say ...
- ... which preferably have at least a bit of non-transliterated original languages (Hebrew, Greek or Coptic) ...
- ... but which don't give full History of Interpretation (at least not for example Augustine or Karl Barth for every other verse in an entire book of the Bible), nor a well-round overview of the scholarly opinions (at least not when that would fill the whole page for just one verse) whether on technical, archaeological or theological matters ...
... but would work for reading, getting insights and then quickly moving on to the next few verses? That would be the main use. Excursuses would not be a must-have as sometimes I would like to use such commentaries just for reading through one or two dozen pretty random sequential verses from the Bible together with the commentary volume, instead of having to pick up from a theme. So whether the commentary volumes would give proper, accurate outlines (for which there perhaps are scholarly consensuses) would not be of much importance ...
- ... i.e. commentary volumes which mention things with depth, if I may wish theological depth too ...
- ... but that don't jump between whole-testament and one-verse or one-concept -perspectives in every paragraph, nor introduce the most elaborate theological-philosophical-ethical conclusions on every other page.
I'll give a bit of slack: The commentary volumes don't have to be recent, they can be decades old, I'd even read from Keil-Delitsch Old Testament commentary or the ICC original series volumes that were on a sale real cheap (or the GJn -volume in the series, or Kings), or Cambridge Greek Testament (I have just a few Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges - volumes too) or Moffatt commentary, or about any commentary from the 1950's and onwards.
Do You know of some volumes that fit these criteria? I'm not trying to avoid technical commentaries (I have some such) but would like something which really makes me read to get a feeling for an entire book of the Bible, and possibly for handing a future wife if she has the interest.
If You know of a commentary like this which almost fits the criteria but is a bit of lacking in how it handles concepts (for example assuming familiarity with or a library elaborating on the concepts), mention it anyway! Perhaps it would be complemented from resources such as for example Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library.
If You know of volumes like this which are perfect, but which are slightly too expositional, please mention them too, as long as they don't read like homilies, or nothing but application lacking all information about what it was like in Biblical times! (The latter not because I would object to reading application, but because I'm a bit suspicious as I don't live in a country from which many commentary authors originate and since times change (devaluing application commentaries, and I see most books I buy as an investment) and there are things like family and finances that vary between individuals (my future wife will probably be much younger than me, not as much younger as making it really unusual but anyway).)
Thank You for Your time, and if there's anything I can do for You as a favour in return, just message me!