Look Inside: New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary

Curious about the 10 Vol. New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary? Some of its first volumes were published in 1994 and it continues to be a popular resource for many.

If you’ve known about this commentary for a while, you may remember it having 12 volumes. This set still has all the content of the 12-volume set. However, the publisher combined some of the volumes. First, let’s look at the volumes that come in this collection and the books of the Bible they cover.

The Volumes of the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary

As noted before, this set comes with 10 volumes. It was put together by an editorial board consisting of 10 members, all theological scholars with a variety of backgrounds.

Leadnder E. Keck – Convener and Senior New Testament Editor
Thomas G. Long – Senior Homiletics Editor
Bruce C. Burch – Old Testament Editor
Katheryn Pfisterer Darr – Old Testament Editor
William L. Lane – New Testament Editor
Gail R. O’Day – Homiletics Editor
David L. Petersen – Senior Old Testament Editor
John J. Collins – Old Testament Editor
James Earl Massey – Homiletics Editor
Marion L. Soards – New Testament Editor

Each volume contains commentary and articles on a number of books of the Bible, along with commentary on apocryphal writings.

• Volume 1: Introduction to the Pentateuch; Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus; Numbers; Deuteronomy
• Volume 2: Introduction to Narrative Literature; Joshua; Judges; Ruth; 1 & 2 Samuel; 1 & 2 Kings; 1 & 2 Chronicles
• Volume 3: Introduction to Hebrew Poetry; Job; Psalms; Introduction to Wisdom Literature; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Song of Songs
• Volume 4: Ezra; Nehemiah; Introduction to Prophetic Literature; Isaiah; Jeremiah; Baruch; Letter of Jeremiah; Lamentations
• Volume 5: Ezekiel; Hosea; Joel; Amos; Obadiah; Jonah; Micah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah; Haggai; Zechariah; Malachi
• Volume 6: Esther; Additions to Esther; Tobit; Judith; 1 & 2 Maccabees; Book of Wisdom; Sirach; Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature; Daniel; Additions to Daniel
• Volume 7: Introduction to the Gospels and Narrative Literature; Jesus and the Gospels; Matthew; Mark
• Volume 8: Luke and John
• Volume 9: Acts; Introduction to Epistolary Literature; Romans; 1 & 2 Corinthians; Galatians
• Volume 10: Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; 1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1 & 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon; Hebrews; James; 1 & 2 Peter; 1, 2 & 3 John; Jude; Revelation

The Content of the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary

First, here is a description of the content from the publisher. This is the best place to look for information on a commentary:

• A detailed, critical commentary providing an exegetical “close-reading” of the biblical text
• Reflections that present a detailed exposition of issues raised in the biblical text
• Introductions to each book that cover essential historical, sociocultural, literary, and theological issues
• Comprehensive, concise articles
• Numerous visual aids (illustrations, maps, charts, timelines)

The Commentary

Of course, the most important part of any commentary is… the commentary. So, let’s take a look at how the content is structured.

Every chapter is represented in three parts: overview, commentary, and reflection. It is so helpful to have a pattern to the information in a commentary. This will help you navigate it easily! Also, it guides you through understanding a passage fully, in-context, ready to apply it where needed.

How do you access the commentary? You can always open up a resource from you library, like we did above. However, you’ll also find it helpful to open the commentary from the Resource Guide in the Study Center. Similar to our other commentaries, this one is made to track with what Bible passage you’re reading. That way, overviews, commentary notes, charts, are easily accessible.

As it is with all our commentaries, the verses are hyperlinked. Footnotes and other important reference points are linked as well.

Additional Information

All the charts, images, and articles can always be found in the Resource Guide. But, if you want to check out the additional information in the commentary, here’s how.

Usually, you can move about in a resource with the grid. Picking a book of the Bible, chapter, and verse gets you right where you want to be.

But this doesn’t let you see a whole lot of not-verse-specific information very easily. So, tap that gear icon in the top-right and change your layout to list view.

You’ll now see the table of contents like so.

Check out the bottom of this list! There are extra articles for you. Here’s an inside look at the contents:

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