Highlights:

Would you like help in selecting just the right Bible Commentary on a particular book of the Christian Bible?  There is a bewildering variety of biblical commentary books in print today. They range from massive, highly technical treatises designed for scholars, all the way to more basic Bible commentaries that anyone can understand, and everything in between. They also range from a conservative evangelical viewpoint, which assumes that Scripture is inerrant and inspired by God, all the way to a liberal viewpoint, which assumes that the Bible is a purely human book, subject to errors.

How do you decide which Bible Commentary is best for you?  Help is here!

Simply scroll down in the window below until the book of the Bible that you are interested in appears in the second column.  Next decide the LEVEL of detail appropriate for you by choosing between In-Depth, Detailed, or Basic (see Key below), and locate that section in the third column. The fourth column lists the THEOLOGICAL orientation ranging between Evangelical and Liberal (see Key below) held by the author of each commentary in the database. (Note that it is still possible to learn much from a commentator with a different theological orientation from your own, but you must be aware of the author’s presuppositions as you read.)

The next column to the right shows a RATING from 1 (highly recommended) to 4 (only okay) for each commentary, based upon a consensus of reviewers (see the “About Us” page), followed by the author’s name, the date the book was published, and the title of the commentary or the series of which it is a part.  The type of binding (cloth/hardcover or paperback), list price (NOT our discounted price!), and publisher is also listed for each book.  The far right column indicates whether the commentary you are interested in is "bound with" any commentaries on other books of the Bible in the same volume.

If you are headed for the library, click on “Bible Commentary Selection Guide Spreadsheet Download” on the left-hand side of this page to place a copy of this database in your Shopping Basket.  After you check out, you can download and save the database to your computer.  You can then use it there, or print it out and take it to the library with you.

If you would like to purchase any of the #1 recommended commentaries, simply click on “More Info” in the first column of the spreadsheet row containing the book's listing.  This will take you to an individual page for each recommended book containing a more detailed description of the book, as well as our very competitive, discounted price for each book.  If you like what you see, simply add the book to your Shopping Basket.  When you are done shopping, check out using your credit card through our Secure Server, and we will mail the book(s) to you.

All orders for more than $29.00 worth of books (excluding any state sales taxes) receive FREE Standard shipping.  Otherwise, shipping is only $4.49 per book.

If you do use our site to identify commentaries that you would like to purchase, we request that you buy them through this site.  We have tried to keep our prices very affordable (usually equal to or lower than Amazon.com).  Your purchase will help to defray the costs of running this site, and help to keep the information here up to date for your and others’ future reference.

Level

• In-Depth: Highly technical; tend to refer to the original languages rather than English translations, address textual issues, forms and structures, and interact with the opinions of many other scholars.  You do not have to be able to read Greek or Hebrew to appreciate the information in these commentaries, but if you do not, you have to learn to glean the information you need.  These are usually quite expensive cloth/hardcover books.
  
• Detailed: Designed for those readers who want to study Scripture on a deeper than surface level, but most of the technical information about the original languages and textual matters is in the footnotes.  These tend to be cloth/hardcover books, but are reasonably affordable.
  
• Basic: These are popular level commentaries that are not at all technical and require almost no previous biblical knowledge.  Many of these are application-oriented, devotional, homiletical (designed for pastors to use in sermon preparation), or designed to help teachers prepare lessons.  These books tend to be relatively inexpensive paperbacks or very affordable cloth/hardcovers.

Theological Orientation

• E (Evangelical): The authors regard the Bible as inspired by God and fully inerrant.
  
• L (Liberal): The Bible is a fully human work containing errors and unreliable history, and its assertions about God or itself may or may not be trusted.  These commentaries are often brilliant studies of the biblical books as literature and as cultural artifacts, and should not be ignored by evangelicals.
  
• M (Moderate): As the name implies, these commentaries lie somewhere between the E and L.  For these authors, the Bible is generally factual, but is to be regarded as more normative for the study of faith and practice than of scientific details.
  
• Ep (Evangelical primarily, predominantly): A category for those evangelical authors who are (or could be) members in good conscience of the Evangelical Theological Society, but who nevertheless may question an occasional minor historical fact.  The most conservative evangelical readers may feel slightly uncomfortable about a very few of the issues these writers raise, but generally these commentators hold to the inspiration of Scripture and its primary authority for living.