The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship. Williamson, an excellent evangelical scholar, has written a very good and comprehensive commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah. This excellent commentary will be helpful to both the layperson and the scholar.

The New American Commentary assumes the inerrancy of Scripture, focuses on the intrinsic theological and exegetical concerns of each biblical book, and engages the range of issues raised in contemporary biblical scholarship. Drawing on the skills and insights of over forty scholars and encompassing forty volumes, the NAC brings together scholarship and piety to produce a tool that enhances and supports the life of the church.

Ezra-Nehemiah is the Old Testament equivalent of the Acts of the Apostles it is a book of new beginnings. Just as Acts narrates the early history of the church through the work of the apostles, Ezra-Nehemiah narrates the re-establishment of the people of God after the exile through the work of Sheshbazzar, Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Allen explores Ezra-Nehemiah as a single literary text made up of three parts telling the story of three missions and the opposition they meet with. Wise and insightful, Leslie Allen has written a commentary that illuminates these texts and their intended message. Esther is a story about a young girl who becomes queen. Laniak's thoughtful commentary examines this narrative as a story with many levels of meaning. Esther is about the minority Jewish community in the dependent state of Diaspora, navigating a precarious existence in two worlds, and it is about the triumph of right over wrong, of God's people over their enemies.