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Commentators write for  and varied audiences.

You might start with an overview that teaches you how to tell one commentary from another. Good choices are:

•  by D. A. Carson (2002)
•  by John Glynn (2003)
•  by Tremper Longman (2003)

Check the website of your seminary or denomination for suggestions of commentaries favored by like-minded preachers.

•  (Reformed)
•  (Lutheran)
•  (Evangelical)
•  (Catholic)

“I wish there was one full commentary set with excellent commentaries throughout, sort of a one-stop preacher’s commentary kit. Usually I find sets vary in quality and insight,” says David P. Dwight, senior pastor of Hope Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia. He reads widely among commentaries and authors instead of depending on a particular publisher.

While his top choices vary by author and topic, Scott Hoezee, director of the Center for Excellence in Preaching, says, “The  is, in almost every instance, gold for preaching.”

Gordon Atkinson, who pastors Covenant Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas, often turns to Interpretation commentaries. He notes that many, such as Terence Fretheim on Exodus or Thomas G. Long on Hebrews, “are written for preachers by people who have done a lot of preaching themselves.”

Other Atkinson picks include:

•  for historical insights
• Scholarly volumes that apply to sermons, such as  and 
•  because it divides material according to whether it’s immediately useful for preachers or better for deep scholarly perusal

When Presbyterian pastors Chris O’Reilly and Peter Bush were  in rural Canadian churches, they gave everyone a single volume commentary, (IVP, 1994).

Before buying a new commentary, you might check online reviews, read an excerpt through or Amazon’s “search inside this book” feature, or try to borrow a copy on interlibrary loan.

At , you can search for a particular Scripture passage. Click on your passage to find relevant historic and contemporary commentary.

You can explore commentaries now in the public domain at  and .