What you get from Word Biblical Commentary

Each WBC commentary begins with an introduction that establishes important issues about the biblical text’s context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology.

Next, each section of the commentary includes:

Pericope Bibliography that introduces you to the most important works for understanding each passage. Translation gives you the author’s own translation of the biblical text. It reflects the end result of the author’s exegesis, and attends to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses. Notes from the author that address the translation’s textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and translation problems. Form/Structure/Setting addresses the redaction, genre, sources, and tradition of the pericope; its canonical form; and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts, in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. You will also discover rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage. Comment offers verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current views and scholarly research. Explanation reflects on the text’s meaning and intention at several levels, so you will understand each passage’s meaning: (1) within the context of the biblical book; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues.

Each volume ends with a General Bibliography containing all sources used in the commentary.

See a Word Biblical Commentary in action

Download a free selection from Bill Mounce’s commentary on the Pastoral Epistles. Here you will see Mounce’s analyze Paul’s greeting and the Ephesian problem in 1 Timothy 1:1-7. You will get a sense of how the WBC series approaches biblical interpretation, and see the kinds of insights you will gain from these resources.