IVP has a vast collection of resources to help you build your Bible reference library—including commentaries, dictionaries, and more. Whether you are a pastor preparing for sermons, a professor putting together lectures, a student writing papers, or just a Bible nerd looking to deepen your study, we've got the reference resources you need. If you need more help choosing the right resources for your needs, try our commentary comparison tool or browse the full list of wide-ranging series from IVP.

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IVP Bible Commentaries

Study the Bible verse by verse with these Scripture commentaries from trusted scholars. Whether you're focusing on just one book of the Bible or you'd like to build a complete collection of your favorite commentary series, we've got you covered.

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Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture

Edited by Thomas C. Oden

This unique 29-volume series offers you the opportunity to study for yourself key writings of the early church fathers. Arranged canonically and employing the RSV, each volume allows the living voices of the church in its formative centuries to speak as they engage the sacred page of Scripture. Series editor: Thomas C. Oden.

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Ancient Christian Doctrine Series

Edited by Thomas C. Oden

This exciting five-volume series follows up on the acclaimed Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture to provide patristic commentary on the Nicene Creed. The series renders primary Greek, Latin, Coptic and Syriac source material from the church fathers in lucid English translation (some here for the first time) and gives readers unparalleled insight into the history and substance of what the early church believed.

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Ancient Christian Texts

Series edited by Thomas C. Oden, Gerald L. Bray, and Michael Glerup

Ancient Christian Texts is a series of new translations, most of which are presented here in English for the first time With today's best scholarship, the Ancient Christian Texts provides you with the resources you need to study for yourself the key writings of the early church in a way never before possible.

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The Bible Speaks Today Series

Series edited by J. A. Motyer and John Stott

This complete series of Old and New Testament commentaries edited by J.A. Motyer and the late John R. W. Stott is characterized by a threefold ideal: to expound the biblical text with accuracy, to relate biblical teaching to contemporary life and to be readable. The BST is perfect for Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, students and individual Bible readers.

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IVP Bible Background Commentary Set

In verse-by-verse format, the IVP Bible Background Commentaries provide the crucial historical, social and cultural background you need for responsible—and rich—Bible study. They each include a glossary of cultural terms and important historical figures, maps and charts, up-to-date bibliographies, and introductory essays about cultural background information for each book of the Old and New Testaments.

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The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

Series edited by Grant R. Osborne
Consulting Editor D. Stuart Briscoe and Haddon W. Robinson

Pastors with a passion for sound exposition and scholars with a heart for pastoral leadership have joined forces to produce this exciting commentary series, now in paper and with all new covers! Each volume, informed by the best of up-to-date evangelical scholarship, presents passage-by-passage commentary based on the NIV along with background information on authorship, setting, theme and various interpretive issues.

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Kidner Classic Commentaries

Kidner Classic Commentaries

by Derek Kidner

The Old Testament commentaries of Derek Kidner (1913-2008) have been a standard for a generation, as part of the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series and The Bible Speaks Today series. Now offered separately as the Kidner Classic Commentaries, Kidner's titles are available for future generations to read, absorb and appreciate.

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Reformation Commentary on Scripture

General Editor Timothy George

The Reformation Commentary Series (RCS) will be a multivolume work that presents comments by historic figures on the entirety of the Bible, chapter by chapter. The unique contribution of the RCS will be its presentation of Protestant Reformation reflections on Scripture, thereby introducing its readers to the depth and richness of exegetical ferment that defined the Reformation.

Single-Volume Commentaries

David R. Bauer
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Donald J. Wiseman
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Edited by Gordon J. Wenham and J. Alec Motyer and D.A. Carson and R. T. France
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Stephen S. Smalley
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J. Alec Motyer
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IVP Bible Reference Resources

Want to dig deeper into a particular topic when studying Scripture? Maybe you're looking to gain a better understanding of biblical cultural context or you need a specific type of reference resource like a dictionary or encyclopedia. Browse them all here!

Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity
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Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity

General Editor Angelo Di Berardino
Consulting Editor Thomas C. Oden, Joel C. Elowsky, and James Hoover

This three-volume encyclopedia offers unparalleled, comprehensive coverage of the people, places and ideas of ancient Christianity, with 3,220 articles by an international team of 266 scholars, covering eight centuries and drawing upon fields from archaeology, architecture, and biography to ecclesiology, geography, and theology.

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The IVP Bible Dictionary Series

Reference volumes in the IVP Bible Dictionary Series provide in-depth treatment of biblical and theological topics in an accessible, encyclopedia format, including cross-sectional themes, methods of interpretation, significant historical or cultural background, and each Old and New Testament book as a whole.

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Essential Studies in Biblical Theology

Series edited by Benjamin L. Gladd

Essential Studies in Biblical Theology explores the central or "essential” themes of the Bible's grand storyline. Taking cues from Genesis 1-3, each author teases out a unique theme throughout the entire sweep of the history of redemption. Written for students, church leaders and laypeople, the ESBT is intended to be an introduction to core biblical-theological themes of the Bible—accessible, yet rich in content.

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New Studies in Biblical Theology

Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works comprised by New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles. Edited by D. A. Carson and Benjamin L. Gladd, they aim to simultaneously instruct and to edify, to interact with current scholarship and to point the way ahead.

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Exploring the Bible Series

Up-to-date, reliable, balanced and clearly organized, these paperback volumes of the Exploring the Bible Series make scholarship on the Old and New Testaments accessible to contemporary students and readers. Each volume brims with helpful features to facilitate learning, including maps, charts, graphs, timelines and glossaries.

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How To Read Series

How to Read Series

We should read a poem very differently than we read a history book, and we read both of them differently than we'd read a novel. The same is true when it comes to our approach to Scripture. That's why this series from Tremper Longman does just what its name describes: helps you understand the proper way to read various books of the Bible.

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The IVP Pocket Reference Series

Informative, clear, brief and affordable, the books included in this series will become your constant companion as you tackle the study of biblical languages, church history, apologetics, contemporary religions, ethics, theology, and more!

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The Biblical Imagination Series

by Michael Card

In the Biblical Imagination Series, writer and musician Michael Card invites readers to enter into Scripture at the level of the informed imagination. With a book for each Gospel account, this set will help you discover the biblical text for yourself, recapturing your imagination with the beauty and power of Christ.

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A Week in the Life Series

Ever wanted a first-century view of the world of the Gospels? In entertaining historical fiction, splashed with informative sidebars and images, this series gives us a new view of Jesus' world and Bible-era culture. Allowing what we do know to conjure possible events, these biblical fiction books from New Testament scholars are a fun and informative journey into the lost stories of the ancient near east.

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The Lost World Series

There are some historical or biblical issues that are inherently controversial—which is why they remain issues of debate. The books in the Lost World Series follow the pattern set by Bible scholar John H. Walton as they bring a fresh, close reading of the Hebrew text to an accessible discussion of the topic at hand.

Single-Volume Reference Resources

Donald J. Wiseman
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Edited by Leland Ryken and James C. Wilhoit and Tremper Longman III
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Paul Lawrence
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Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Peter H. Davids and F. F. Bruce and Manfred Brauch
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F. F. Bruce
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