In the summer of 2014 I compiled several lists of recommended commentaries for diligent Bible students, preachers, and teachers. These lists reflect the recommendations of about a dozen scholarly books and websites.
Note: To help keep these lists current, I am adding some “new and promising” commentaries as I discover them. (Most recent additions: January 7, 2017.)
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Must-Buy Lists
Shorter lists of top-ranked commentaries that consistently receive high praise from multiple sources: OT lists, NT lists
Detailed Lists
Longer lists of suggested commentaries for each book of the Bible: OT lists, NT lists
You can also download these lists (note: this file has not been updated since July 2014): Commentary Recommendations
About These Lists
Intended Audience and Purpose – Who might benefit from these recommendations?
Sources Consulted – How did I decide which books to recommend?
Abbreviations Used – What do my book descriptions mean?
Why I Use Commentaries – Are there any good reasons to read commentaries?
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Just for your information. John F. Evans “A Guide to Biblical Commentaries” will bee updated and published by Zondervan in March 2016. You may want to keep an eye out. Rod
Thanks, Rod. I hadn’t heard that yet. Now for time to update my lists!
The update has been postponed to May 4th for the update to Evan’s Work. I can hardly wait.
Thanks for keeping me posted!
Evans update has been out for a while. Hopefully you received a copy. I am anxious to see how that affects your recommendations. When will be your next update?
I haven’t seen the new Evans update, so thanks for the notice. When will I update? Sigh! I wish I could now, but fear it won’t be for a year or more. As you can see, even blog posts have fell by the wayside during this season of transition to a new state, city, house, set of jobs, and church ministry focus. Denver Seminary updates their lists every January, so in a best-case scenario I’d try to catch their update early in 2017 and then revise my lists with all current data.
Greetings, Since I last corresponded I have had three heart attacks and a double bypass. I am on the mend but noticed that you have not updated your recommendations. Are you still planning on doing so. I am still looking forward to the update. The Lord has kept me around and I still love reading commentaries.