What commentary and dictionary is your favorite or which one is the best for the money in your opinion?

And, why are some the commentaries/dictionaries that the copyrights have expired on, which are free on the internet, so expensive?

Commentaries and dictionaries are very personal things, and really depends on what you like and what you're looking for. My dad loved Matthew Henry, and read every word of his entire commentary. I'm personally not a Matthew Henry fan, because I find the older language (from the KJV era) difficult to understand. That's not to say Matthew Henry isn't a fantastic commentary, I just prefer more modern writers such as John MacArthur.

That said, there's even a huge difference in the styles of different commentaries. Some offer critical text analysis, some is applicational, and some, like J. Vernon McGee, is written almost like a sermon, with fun stories and illustrations thrown throughout. It all depends on what you want or need from a commentary.

The prices reflected here for different resources, be they commentaries, dictionaries, books, or what have you, are not always only based on publisher royalties. A great amount of work goes into converting each resource into a format that can be used by the Mantis product. In addition, larger works create a larger demand on our servers (space to store them, bandwidth for users to download them, etc.) We take all this into account when pricing a product.

It's our desire to continue to improve the Mantis product, to improve the resources we've released (via free updates) and to continually push the envelope to bring the very best Bible study tools and materials to the iPhone platform. Sales of our products make this possible, and we really appreciate every one of you who's purchased something from us. Thank you.

Which commentary offers the best verse by verse analysis?

Hopefully others here will offer their opinion. I like several, including MacArthur, Believer's Bible Commentary, among others. My personal favorite, though, is the one we are working on right now (unfortunately it won't be released until next week): IVP Bible Background Commentary by Intervarsity Press.

I bought the preacher's commentary today and it was not what I was looking for. Is there any way I could get a refund or a credit I could apply to the MacArthur study notes or the IVB that will be coming out? How much will the IVB cost?

You'll need to email customer support for issues like this. The price has not been set yet for the IVP commentaries, but it looks like we're going to offer 3 versions: an OT Commentary Set, a NT Commentary Set, and a bundle of both together.

When you mentioned MacArthur, were you talking about the study notes or the actual commentaries? Are the study notes verse by verse analysis? I couldn't find anywhere online that showed what the study notes were. I want to be cautious buying so I don't make the same mistake as I did with the preacher's commentary. It was a good commentary, just not what I was looking for.

The MacArthur Study Notes is basically the MacArthur Study Bible sold in stores, but without the Bible part (since you can use it with any version of the Bible you already have in Mantis.) It is a verse-by-verse commentary.

I have never been able to find a ONE SIZE FITS Commentary. I do not work for Mantis and do not speak for them but I would keep the one you bought and just buy another one as funds allow. Each commentary set offers a different "nugget" of insight that will open your eyes to deeper truth. But I use Barns notes verse by verse a lot. I love the way Mantis uses their flow boxes so I can study a verse and move between commentaries quickly. Try several it will not be a waste of time or money for sure.