Searching for Old Testament Commentaries

To search for commentaries on individual O.T. books as, for example, Genesis, use TrinCat’s Simple Search screen according to this example:

  1. In the "Search Terms" field, type the following, including periods:

    Bible O.T. Genesis Commentaries

  2. In the "Search Type" pull-down menu, select "Subject"
  3. Click on the "Submit" button
  4. In the displayed list of headings, click on Bible O.T. Genesis Commentaries.

Commentaries on other individual Old Testament books can be searched according to the above example, using the appropriate name of the book for which you want to find a commentary.

To search for commentaries on books with 1st’s and 2nd’s, use the following examples:

  • Commentaries on 1st and 2nd Samuel:

    Bible O.T. Samuel Commentaries

  • Commentaries specific to 1st Samuel:

    Bible O.T. Samuel, 1st Commentaries

  • Commentaries specific to 2nd Samuel:

    Bible O.T. Samuel, 2nd Commentaries

To search for commentaries on collected books of the Old Testament, use these subject headings:

  • Bible O.T. Commentaries
  • Bible O.T. Pentateuch Commentaries
  • Bible O.T. Historical Books Commentaries
  • Bible O.T. Poetical Books Commentaries
  • Bible O.T. Prophets Commentaries
  • Bible O.T. Minor Prophets Commentaries

To search for commentaries on specific chapter(s) of O.T. books, use these examples with Roman numerals for chapters:

  • Bible O.T. Genesis I Commentaries
  • Bible O.T. Isaiah I-XXXIX Commentaries

Searching for Commentaries by Specific Authors

To find commentaries by specific authors, as for example, Douglas Moo’s commentary on Romans, choose Advanced Search in TrinCat.

  1. In the first "Search For" field, type the following including periods:

    Bible N.T. Romans Commentaries

  2. In the "Search In" pull-down menu, select "Subject"
  3. Click on the radio button by the word "AND"
  4. In the second "Search For" field, type the following:

    Moo

  5. In the "Search In" pull-down menu, select "Author"
  6. Click on the "Submit" button

Commentary Guides

Ref Z 7772 .A1 L64 2007
Longman, Tremper, III. Old Testament Commentary Survey. 4th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007.

Ref Z 7772 .L1 C37 2007
Carson, D. A. New Testament Commentary Survey, 6th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007.

Copies of "The Professors’ Guide to Your Commentary Library," the TEDS faculty (1996) recommendations for best commentaries on each book of the Bible are available at the Reference desk.

Finding Commentaries in the Library

Rolfing Library collects commentaries both for the Main collection and for the Reference collection. Commentaries designated in the Main collection may be checked out; those in Reference are for in-library use only. Whether in Reference or Main, commentaries will be shelved in one of two ways, either in collected commentary sets or with other commentaries and works on the same book(s) of the Bible.

 

Finding Commentaries Shelved in Collected Sets

The library collects and shelves together the following commentary sets in the Reference collection:

BS 490 C35x Calvin’s Commentaries

BS 491 I6 International Critical Commentary

BS 491.2 A53x The Anchor Bible Commentary

BS 491.2 A541x Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture

BS 491.2 E96 The Expositor’s Bible Commentary

BS 491.2 I5.5 The Interpreter’s Bible

BS 491.2 N482x New International Commentary on the Old/New Testament

BS 491.2 N484 New Interpreter’s Bible

BS 491.2 N58x NIV Application Commentary

BS 1154 K414 Keil-Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

BS 2341.2 N492x New International Greek Testament Commentary

BS 2341.2 P55x Pillar New Testament Commentary

BS 2348 H4 S7 Strack-Billerbeck Kommentar zum Neuen Testament

In the Main collection, many of the above sets and numerous other sets can be found ranging from BS 485 through BS 494. A circulating set of Keil-Delitzsch can be found at BS 1154. Various New Testament commentary sets can be found ranging from BS 2341 through BS 2344.

Finding Commentaries Shelved by Book of the Bible

Commentaries not shelved in sets are shelved in canonical order along with other books about a particular book of the Bible. Commentaries on Genesis–Malachi run from BS 1235 through BS 1675. Commentaries on Matthew–Revelation run from BS 2575 through BS 2825.