O'Brien's commentaries on the prison epistles have never failed to help me when I have consulted them to understand Paul's letters better than I had before. The author writes from a theologically conservative and complementarian viewpoint but is always prepared to evaluate other views, while also clearly articulating his own.

This is one of the most helpful of the Word Biblical Commentary series.

If you read commentaries to help you to understand the text, so that you can better serve Jesus Christ, you will really appreciate this one, as well as the author's commentaries on Philippians and Ephesians.

If you have not studied New Testament Greek, you may find some of his argumentation hard to grasp.

[If you are serious about understanding the New Testament, a couple of years studying the language it is written in will be enlightening, and will at the very least open up for you the majority of the best commentaries!]

Much praise has already been laid down by others concerning this commentary. The five star rating I gave it should confirm to the reader my agreement. With this in mind, I'm going to focus on one particular aspect of the book.

If I could have any complaint about this commentary, it is that it is too scholarly and thorough. O'Brien interacts with so many sources and views, one can get a little too bogged down in all the reasoning. Some parts are hard to follow lucidly with so much material being compared and contrasted. The sheer number of inline references and sources can make following the text with your eyes rather difficult. This is my general complain of the Word Biblical Commentary series as a whole, and this one seems especially representative.

O'Brien commentary is a gold mine for those serious in academics, or pastors who are series about having a broad base. O'Brien offers a huge (indeed, perhaps exhaustive) bibliography of the different works dealing with the text. O'Brien could be you one stop source for all your researching needs. For the layman though (like myself), it might be a little too much.

That said, I wholly recommend this commentary for all those serious about study.

This is the best commentary available on Colossians. Like O'Brien's commentaries on Ephesians and Philippians, this work features in-depth exegesis, summaries and critiques of all exegetical options, interaction with the best contemporary scholarship, and clear writing. O'Brien argues for Pauline authorship, and his theological perspective is broadly in the Reformed tradition.

It did take me a couple tries to get through this book, but it was worth it. This commentary has everything I looked for. It explained the book in its historical context as well as its spiritual and contemporary importance. Some of the writing is a bit bombastic and difficult to wade through, but I learned a lot from it.

Hubbard's commentary is in-depth and accurate. He quotes the New King James Version but corrects mistakes such as Proverbs 30.1 where he correctly states that "Ithiel and Ucal" should be tranlated as phrases rather than names. Amazon's catalog lists the release date as January 1991 but the copyright in the book is 1989 (it came out initially as paperback which is now out of print). Biblical archaelogy and scholarship has made significant progress in the last 10 years. For a more up-to-date in-depth commentary on Proverbs read THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS by Cody Jones. It features numerous drawings and photos which give the reader a sense of the culture of the time. Six translations in parallel aid understanding of more difficult passages. Jones reveals for the first time in any commentary the secret identity of the overall editor of King Solomon's wise and witty sayings.

It gives a good grasp on the old testament period between the first deportation and the second deportation of Isreal to Babylon. It gives a good understanding of the people and culture at that time.

This text is used as a college textbook in my Bible and Theology Batchelor of Science program. As such, I expect a college level text to be challenging reading. However, even for the best reader this book is tedious, unless reserved strictly for use as a resource. Unfortunately to use it as a resource, a good index is necessary. This book has only an index of names and an index of authors available, making the indices hardly worthwhile.

It does have some great charts as sidebar content but without an index to them they may be missed. Illustrations are in black and white or blue and white. Color photos are reserved for the book jacket only.

The book, while maintaining a fairly conservative theological approach holds rather closely to a JEDP theory regarding the formulation of the Old Testament. This may be confusing to some who were taught to believe that Moses wrote the books of the law. No alternative theory is given that I could find.

If you are purchasing this book for a resource, there may be one which is better indexed and more visually appealing. If for casual reading or basic instruction in Old Testament history or literature, please choose something written for this purpose. You will not be satisfied by this book. My readability score for this book is zero!

This is a wonderful text for the student of the Old Testament. The authors are very detailed in their descriptions of each Old Testament book. Not only do they provide a fairly lengthy section in each chapter about the historical setting of the book, but they also provide a review of the message, certain criticisms, theology, date and composition, and certain scholarly events surrounding the text (i.e. hypothesis, theories about the text, etc.). Moreover, the book is filled with photographs, maps, charts, and many other visual aids. The authors have also provided the reader with geographical aids via descriptions, maps, etc. Another important element about this book is the authors' handling of Hebrew poetry. The authors give a description of what Hebrew poetry is, how it works, how to read it, and what its purpose was in context. So as you can see this is a very detailed book. If you are wanting a text that focuses solely on the Old Testament, is detailed and very descriptive, then I don't believe you will find a better text than this one.

Old Testament Survey quotes the New Revised Standard Version in order to take advantage of the most recent biblical scholarship. While previously scholars thought there was a first, second and third Isaiah OTS makes a stong case for the unity of Isaiah (chapter 22). OTS follows the general modern consensus that Ecclesiastes was written 700 years after King Solomon died and thus was not written by Solomon. The comments are interesting and accompanied by photos and maps. If you enjoy this book you may also like THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS by Cody Jones. Many of the mysteries and riddles of Proverbs are explored with some surprising new answers. Among them is the identity of King Solomon's ghostwriter who was one of the "officials of Hezekiah" mentioned in Proverbs 25.1. Six translations of Proverbs in parallel aid understanding and numerous drawings and photos give you a sense of the culture of the time.

Hubbard's commentary is in-depth and accurate. He quotes the New King James Version but corrects mistakes such as Proverbs 30.1 where he correctly states that "Ithiel and Ucal" should be tranlated as phrases rather than names. Biblical archaelogy and scholarship has made significant progress in the last 10 years since this book was written (1989). For a more up-to-date in-depth commentary on Proverbs read THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS by Cody Jones. It features numerous drawings and photos which give the reader a sense of the culture of the time. Six translations in parallel aid understanding of more difficult passages. Jones reveals for the first time in any commentary the secret identity of the overall editor of King Solomon's wise and witty sayings.