Top 11 Bible Commentary Recommendations

Many people have asked questions like “Which Bible commentary is the best?” or “Which Bible commentary should I use?” in recent years. We are incredibly blessed to have so many good Bible commentary resources available today. There are many high-quality commentaries to choose from! So, we decided to help our readers narrow down their options by sharing our top 11 Bible commentary recommendations for those who want to study the Bible at a deeper level.

It would be impossible to cover all of the Bible commentaries available out there, so let’s take a look at a few of the most popular and top-rated commentaries.

First, before we dive in, let’s answer an important question.

What is a Bible commentary?

A Bible commentary is designed to provide deeper insight into a particular book(s) of the Bible. Biblical scholars have studied ancient history, biblical texts, the books of the Bible in their original language, the entirety of the Bible and how different books relate with others, and other ancient writings in order to bring additional perspective to better understand the books of the Bible today.

In terms of content, there are several types of Bible commentaries:

• Critical: These commentaries are focused on addressing important issues in the biblical text. They tend to get very detailed and technical in their analysis.
• Expositional: These commentaries are designed to help Bible teachers deliver a message to their audience with deeper insight and ideas for how to explain a particular passage.
• Exegetical: These commentaries go through a book of the Bible verse by verse, addressing important issues in the text. Some verses are explained through a study of the words in the original language. However, the main focus of these commentaries is helping the reader observe what is happening in the text and how to apply it to their lives.
• Application: These commentaries focus more heavily on how to apply each biblical text in our lives.

In terms of length, there are several types of commentaries:

• Single volume commentary: In these books, the entire Bible is explained in a single commentary. These commentaries are helpful for an overview of each book and a general understanding of the text.
• Multi-volume commentary: Each one of these commentaries covers multiple books of the Bible. These resources provide more in-depth insight than the single volume commentaries.
• Whole book commentary: These commentaries focus on one specific book of the Bible. Deeper insight is provided than the previous two commentary types.
• Partial book commentary: These commentaries focus on a part of a book of the Bible. They are extremely in-depth in their study of the biblical text.

To get a quality commentary, you will likely have to purchase one. However, if funds are restrictive, here are two free Bible commentary options:

• Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible: This commentary was written in 1706 by Matthew Henry, who created this six-volume commentary set that looks at every verse in the bible. You can access this free commentary via Bible Study Tools.
• IVP New Testament Commentary Series: These commentaries provide insight into various passages in the New Testament. The commentaries that are free can be accessed via Bible Gateway.

There are other free Bible commentary options out there, but I would encourage you to invest in one of the paid resources below. They bring a refreshing amount of insight to anyone looking to study the Bible at a deeper level.

Top 11 Bible Commentary Recommendations

1. Expositor’s Bible Commentary (EBC):

This commentary series is one of the most popular commentary sets in the world today. It is full of incredible insights that are deep yet easy to understand. It was originally written in 1976, then revised in 2012. It is the recipient of the Gold Medallion Book Award for excellent Christian content. These commentaries were written by 50 authors, each of whom strived to provide deeper insight into the biblical text while also recognizing and explaining different points of view on controversial passages.

Check It Out: Expositor’s Bible Commentaries

2. New International Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (NICOT and NICNT):

These commentaries come very highly rated by a variety of Christian scholars. Many of their volumes rank in the top 3 for best commentary for a particular book of the Bible. The authors of these commentaries affirm the original biblical text as the inspired, inerrant word of God. The commentary provides deep insight into the text through both observation and application. The footnotes are also helpful because they provide a more technical analysis of the text than what is provided in the main commentary sections, so you can choose how deep you want to study each verse or passage. Contributors include Bruce Waltke, Gordon Fee, F. F. Bruce, and many others.

Check it Out: NICOT (Old Testament) and NICNT (New Testament)

3. Pillar New Testament Commentary (PNTC):

This commentary series is one of the best-selling commentary sets available today. Its combination of detailed exegetical commentary is combined with practical insight for application that makes this commentary set a favorite of many Bible students and Bible teachers. While not every viewpoint is represented in this series, different viewpoints are represented on a number of important contemporary debates.

Check It Out: Pillar New Testament Commentaries

4. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (BECNT):

These commentaries were written by scholars with a wide variety of theological perspectives, which gives the reader the opportunity to learn from different viewpoints on the text. The series provides a detailed analysis of the Greek text for people who don’t know Biblical Greek.

Check It Out: Baker Exegetical Commentaries on the New Testament

5. Baker Commentary on the Old Testament (BCOT):

This 10-volume exegetical commentary set provides a helpful look at multiple Old Testament books. While this commentary set doesn’t cover the whole Old Testament yet, Baker Academic is continuing to produce more commentaries for this series.

Check It Out: Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms and Prophetic Books

6. NIV Application Commentary (NIVAC):

This commentary series focused on the application of the biblical text. Each Bible passage is addressed in three sections: the original meaning of the text, what part of the application is a timeless truth for our world today, and the modern significance of that passage.

Check It Out: NIV Application Commentaries

7. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (ZECNT):

This commentary set is written specifically for Bible teachers who want to learn more about specific passages and how they can be applied in our world today.The commentaries go through the books of the New Testament verse-by-verse in a concise way, and do not engage in various viewpoints for potentially controversial passages.

Check It Out: Zondervan Exegetical Commentaries on the New Testament

8. New International Greek Testament Commentary (NIGTC):

This commentary set takes a deep dive into the biblical Greek of the New Testament, in order to better explain the linguistic, textual, and historical context of each verse.

Check It Out: New International Greek Testament Commentary

9. Word Biblical Commentary (WBC):

This commentary series by Zondervan Academic provides a detailed look at the theological, linguistic, textual, and structural considerations for understanding the biblical text in a way that helps the reader develop their understanding of biblical theology.

Check It Out: Word Biblical Commentaries

10. New American Commentary (NAC):

This commentary set provides helpful information that is both exegetical and practical. It also seeks to explain the unity between each passage of a book and the entirety of the book, and the unity between the books of the Bible and the Bible as a whole. 

Check It Out: Starting with Genesis, there are 39 Volumes.

11. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (TOTC):

These commentaries provide an excellent analysis of the Old Testament books, going through each book one passage at a time. They provide more detailed commentary on individual verses that may be controversial in terms of their interpretation.

Check It Out: Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries

Choose one of the top 11 Bible commentary recommendations and dive in!

There you go! Hopefully this list of our top 11 Bible commentary recommendations will help you as you study the Bible at a deeper level.

By the way…

Here at Lead412, we also provide in-depth Bible study resources for studying specific books of the Bible. Want to check them out?