The narrative of the book of Ruth is a drama of ordinary human life, but the drama unfolds against a background of the providence and purposes of God. Katharine Doob Sakenfeld has written a commentary that makes very clear why the book of Ruth has such great importance as literature and as Scripture.

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

Katharine Doob Sakenfeld is Eisenberger Professor Emerita of Old Testament and Co-Coordinator of Princeton Seminary Women in Ministry Initiative. She served for forty-three years on the Princeton Seminary faculty, including twenty-five years as Director of PhD Studies. Focusing on feminist biblical interpretation, especially in diverse cultural contexts, she helped to establish the first Princeton Theological Seminary course in women's studies and continues to foster a worldwide network of women biblical scholars. In 2007 she was elected President of the Society of Biblical Literature. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), she received the 2016 PCUSA award for Excellence in Theological Education. Her publications include Ruth in the esteemed Interpretation series and Just Wives?: Stories of Power and Survival in the Old Testament and Today, both published by Westminster John Knox Press. She was General Editor for the five-volume New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible.