"The second generation TOTC commentaries are beginning to appear with David Firth as main editor and me [Tremper Longman III] as consulting editor. Over the next ten or so years new volumes will appear for every book." - Tremper Longman III, writing in 2013 in his Old Testament Commentary Survey, 5th edition.

The decision to completely revise the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries is an indication of the important role that the series has played since its opening volumes were released in the mid-1960s. A crucial element of the original series was that it should offer an up-to-date reading of the text, and it is precisely for this reason that new volumes are required. The questions confronting readers in the first half of the twenty-first century are not necessarily those from the second half of the twentieth. The need for contemporary study of the text requires that the series as a whole be updated. This updating is not simply a matter of commissioning new volumes to replace the old. We have also taken the opportunity to update the format of the series to reflect a key emphasis from linguistics, which is that texts communicate in larger blocks rather than in shorter segments such as individual verses. Because of this, the treatment of each section of the text includes three segments. First, a short note on the Context is offered. The Comment segment then follows the traditional structure of commentary, offering exegesis. Finally, a brief comment is made on Meaning. - General preface.