HarperCollins Bible Commentary, Revised Edition - edited by James Luther Mays with the Society of Biblical Literature (New York: Harper Collins, 2000). This commentary provides Bible students with sound and easily understood explanations of each Bible paragraph (grouping of adjacent related Bible verses). In comparison with the New Jerome Biblical Commentary, the HCBC does not cover as broadly the wide spectrum of scholarly conclusions on a particular verse or topic, but it does represent well the conclusions of mainstream critical biblical scholars.

The contents of this commentary include:

• Introduction
• The Bible: The Book of Books
• The Biblie and Its Communities
• Biblical Literature in Its Historical Context: The Old Testatment
• Biblical Literature in Its Historical Context: The New Testatment
• The Bible and the Literature of Antiquity: The Ancient Near East
• The Bible and the Literature of Antiquity: The Greco-Roman Period
• Reading and Interpreting the Bible
• Part One: The Biblical Story, Genesis-Esther
• Part Two: Psalms and Wisdom
• Part Three: The Prophetic Books
• Part Four: The Apocrypha
• Part Five: The Books in the form of Narritive (The Gospels and Acts)
• Part Six: Books in the Form of Letters (The Pauline Letters and the General Letters to the Churches)

In addition to the exegesis provided for each book of the Bible, there are 8-12 pages of introduction to each "Part" of the commentary. There are also 2-12 pages of introduction to each book of the Bible, covering such topics as authorship, data and place of writing, destination and purpose, sources, structure and literary features, points of view, the book in its contexts, etc.