For over one hundred years International Critical Commentaries have had a special place amongst works on the Bible. They have sought to bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary and theological - to help the reader understand the meaning of the books of the Old and New Testaments. The new commentaries continue this tradition. New evidence now available, as well as new methods of study, will be incorporated in the confidant expectation that there will be an even greater need for such commentaries in the twenty-first century than there has been in the past. The authors, of the highest international standing, make no attempt to secure a uniform theological or critical approach to the biblical text: contributors have been invited for their scholarly distinction, not for their adherence to any one school of thought.

Jan Joosten, Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at Marc Bloch University, Strasbourg, adds to this prestigious serious a masterful exegetical and critical commentary on Proverbs.