Logos is running a great sale on volumes of the Yale Anchor Bible Commentary through the end of February 2019. All volumes of this series are only $19.95, including the most recent volumes. For example both volumes of Joel Marcus’s commentary on Mark are on sale for $19.95 each; the cheaper paperback versions cost nearly that much per volume (and new hardcovers are selling for up to $85!) I really do prefer to have the real books, but at this price I can fill in some of the recent replacement volumes I have not been able to afford and use the features of the Logos library.

So what is good in the AB series? Joel Marcus on Mark, Fitzmyer on Luke (two volumes), Acts, Romans and 1 Corinthians are all worth using. Raymond Brown’s two volumes on the Gospel of John and addition volume on the Epistles of John are still worth using although they are a bit dated. The real steal is Louis Martyn’s Galatians commentary, new paperback copies are more that $50 on Amazon. Abraham Mahlerbe on 1-2 Thessalonians and Luke Timothy Johnson on 1-2 Timothy are both excellent.

For the Hebrew Bible, I recommend Jacob Milgrom’s three volumes on Leviticus (Vol. 1, 1–16, Vol. 2, 17-22 and Vol. 3, 23–27; one of the most detailed commentaries on Leviticus!) Both the Hosea and Amos commentaries by Anderson and Freedman are great (I have used Amos often). I have two of the three Joseph Blenkinsopp commentaries on Isaiah and find them useful.

The Anchor Bible Commentary included books from the Apocrypha as well. Most of these can be had used for less than $20, but there are relatively few commentaries on Sirach, Judith, Tobit, etc.

There are a few of the older AB commentaries on sale and I would not recommend them even at the sale price. I would not purchase the Genesis commentary by Speiser, for example. It is one of the original AB volumes and has yet to be replaced by a newer more detailed commentary. There are used copies everywhere for less that $10 (I see a copy on Amazon for less that $3!) The same is true for 1-2 Chronicles and the Ezra-Nehemiah volumes by Jacob Myers. Maybe the three volumes on the Psalms by Michael Dahood are in this category too, although these were better commentaries with a heavy emphasis on Ugaritic parallels. Despite being older, I think Marvin Pope’s commentaries on Job and Song of Solomon are both worth having (the SoS commentary is massive and filled with interesting interpretations of the Song!). The William Orr commentary on 1 Corinthians so not very good and has been replaced by Fitzmyer, but it is still available in this sale (you can get it used for $2 on Amazon). J. Massyngberde Ford’s Revelation commentary was replaced by Craig Koester. Ford’s commentary was brief and idiosyncratic (and is still pricey used, for some reason).

Logos recently launched a major upgrade, I did a “first look” review of Logos 8 here. There are plenty of new features to justify an upgrade and the software runs much more efficiently than the previous version. Everything runs faster than Logos 7 so the upgrade is well worth getting. If you do not already have Logos, get Logos 8 Fundamentals for $99 then upgrade to a Logos 8 base package. Try using the code READINGACTS8, might save you some money.

The Anchor Bible Commentary sale expires at the end of February, so head to the Sale page and load up on excellent professional commentaries for your Logos library.