--- type: "firecrawl-provider" description: "Classic public-domain Bible commentaries from StudyLight.org's English library of 155 series. Read a commentary's remarks on a chapter or verse range (\"Barnes on John 3:16\", \"the Pulpit Commentary on Romans 8\"), with tolerant references (\"Jn 3:16\", \"1 Cor 13\", \"Ps 23\"); see what every public-domain commentary says about one verse in one call; list the series with codes, authors, life dates, publication years, tradition, coverage and licence; and resolve a book and chapter into a series' commentary pages. Covers Barnes' Notes, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Benson, Matthew Poole, Wesley, the Cambridge Bible, the Expositor's Bible and Greek Testament, Lange, Coke, Gray, Spurgeon, Trapp, Whedon, Vincent, Alford, Bengel, the Biblical Illustrator and about 90 more pre-1929 works. Only works first published by 1928 whose copyright statement claims no rights are returned as text; modern copyrighted commentaries (Barclay, Coffman, Constable, McGee and others) are listed as metadata only." use_when: "Classic public-domain Bible commentaries from StudyLight.org's English library of 155 series. Read a commentary's remarks on a chapter or verse range (\"Barnes on John 3:16\", \"the Pulpit Commentary on Romans 8\"), with tolerant references (\"Jn 3:16\", \"1 Cor 13\", \"Ps 23\"); see what every public-domain commentary says about one verse in one call; list the series with codes, authors, life dates, publication years, tradition, coverage and licence; and resolve a book and chapter into a series' commentary pages. Covers Barnes' Notes, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Benson, Matthew Poole, Wesley, the Cambridge Bible, the Expositor's Bible and Greek Testament, Lange, Coke, Gray, Spurgeon, Trapp, Whedon, Vincent, Alford, Bengel, the Biblical Illustrator and about 90 more pre-1929 works. Only works first published by 1928 whose copyright statement claims no rights are returned as text; modern copyrighted commentaries (Barclay, Coffman, Constable, McGee and others) are listed as metadata only." categories: "Research" capabilities: 4 credits_per_call: 5 --- # StudyLight.org Bible commentaries: Barnes, Pulpit, Ellicott, Benson, Poole, Wesley and more (studylight.org) on Firecrawl Alexandria Classic public-domain Bible commentaries from StudyLight.org's English library of 155 series. Read a commentary's remarks on a chapter or verse range ("Barnes on John 3:16", "the Pulpit Commentary on Romans 8"), with tolerant references ("Jn 3:16", "1 Cor 13", "Ps 23"); see what every public-domain commentary says about one verse in one call; list the series with codes, authors, life dates, publication years, tradition, coverage and licence; and resolve a book and chapter into a series' commentary pages. Covers Barnes' Notes, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Benson, Matthew Poole, Wesley, the Cambridge Bible, the Expositor's Bible and Greek Testament, Lange, Coke, Gray, Spurgeon, Trapp, Whedon, Vincent, Alford, Bengel, the Biblical Illustrator and about 90 more pre-1929 works. Only works first published by 1928 whose copyright statement claims no rights are returned as text; modern copyrighted commentaries (Barclay, Coffman, Constable, McGee and others) are listed as metadata only. - Categories: Research - Category index: [Research category](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/categories/research) - Provider key: `studylight-org` - Access: Firecrawl credits - Cost: 5 credits per call ## More - [Human guide](https://www.firecrawl.dev/app/alexandria/studylight-org) - [OpenAPI spec](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/studylight-org/openapi.json) ## Capabilities - [Get commentary](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/studylight-org/bible/get_commentary): One commentary's remarks on a Bible chapter or verse range from StudyLight.org, as plain text with each remark's verse span, the scripture it cites and its source URL, plus the work's authors, publication year and licence. Tolerant references ("John 3:16", "Jn 3:16-18", "Rom 8", "Ps 23") and commentary names or codes ("Barnes", "Pulpit Commentary", "ebc"). A whole chapter also returns the chapter introduction. - [Get verse commentaries](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/studylight-org/bible/get_verse_commentaries): Every public-domain commentary's remark on one Bible verse from StudyLight.org's verse-by-verse view, in one call: commentary code and title, author, publication year, tradition, whether the remark is on the verse or its passage, the text and its source URL. Copyrighted commentaries on the page are listed under omitted with the reason, without text. - [List commentaries](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/studylight-org/bible/list_commentaries): StudyLight.org's English Bible commentary series, most read first, with the code get_commentary takes, title, author with life dates, first publication year, era, theological tradition, coverage (whole Bible, New Testament, single books), popularity rank and licence. Public-domain series only by default; include_copyrighted adds the modern ones as metadata. - [Resolve reference](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/studylight-org/bible/resolve_reference): Resolve a Bible reference or book and chapter ("Jn 3:16", "1 Cor 13", "Song of Songs 2") into StudyLight.org identifiers and pages: the book's name, USFM code and site slug, the verse-by-verse commentary page for a single verse, and, with a commentary, that series' book page, chapter page and the chapters it covers. ## 1. Choose this provider when Classic public-domain Bible commentaries from StudyLight.org's English library of 155 series. Read a commentary's remarks on a chapter or verse range ("Barnes on John 3:16", "the Pulpit Commentary on Romans 8"), with tolerant references ("Jn 3:16", "1 Cor 13", "Ps 23"); see what every public-domain commentary says about one verse in one call; list the series with codes, authors, life dates, publication years, tradition, coverage and licence; and resolve a book and chapter into a series' commentary pages. Covers Barnes' Notes, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Benson, Matthew Poole, Wesley, the Cambridge Bible, the Expositor's Bible and Greek Testament, Lange, Coke, Gray, Spurgeon, Trapp, Whedon, Vincent, Alford, Bengel, the Biblical Illustrator and about 90 more pre-1929 works. Only works first published by 1928 whose copyright statement claims no rights are returned as text; modern copyrighted commentaries (Barclay, Coffman, Constable, McGee and others) are listed as metadata only. ## 2. Minimal request Call `POST https://api.firecrawl.dev/v2/scrape` with `{ alexandria: { provider, capability, options } }`. For a batch, send `{ alexandria: [...] }` with up to 10 calls. ```json { "provider": "studylight-org", "capability": "bible/get_commentary", "options": { "commentary": "Barnes", "reference": "John 3:16" } } ``` ## 3. Add provider options Use only the options needed for the task: - `book` (string): Book name, abbreviation or USFM code (John, Jn, JHN, 1 Corinthians); use with chapter instead of reference. Example: `` - `chapter` (number): Chapter number, with book. Example: `10` - `commentary` (string, required): Commentary series: a StudyLight code (bnb, tpc, ebc, rbc, mpc, wen, cgt, teb, lcc, tcc, jgc) or a name or author ("Barnes", "Pulpit Commentary", "Ellicott", "Cambridge Bible"). list_commentaries gives every code. Example: `` - `include_introduction` (boolean): Also return the chapter introduction for a verse request. Example: `false` - `reference` (string): A Bible reference: book name or abbreviation, chapter and optional verse or range, e.g. "John 3:16", "Jn 3", "1 Cor 13:4-7", "Ps 23". Use this or book with chapter. Example: `` - `verse_end` (number): Last verse, with verse_start; defaults to verse_start. Example: `10` - `verse_start` (number): First verse, with book and chapter; omit for the whole chapter. Example: `10` ## 4. Request through your preferred interface ### JavaScript ```javascript const result = await firecrawl.scrape({ alexandria: { provider: "studylight-org", capability: "bible/get_commentary", options: { commentary: "Barnes", reference: "John 3:16", }, }, }); ``` ### Python ```python result = firecrawl.scrape_alexandria({ "provider": "studylight-org", "capability": "bible/get_commentary", "options": { "commentary": "Barnes", "reference": "John 3:16" } }) ``` ### cURL ```sh curl https://api.firecrawl.dev/v2/scrape \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $FIRECRAWL_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "alexandria": { "provider": "studylight-org", "capability": "bible/get_commentary", "options": { "commentary": "Barnes", "reference": "John 3:16" } } }' ``` ### CLI ```sh firecrawl scrape 'studylight-org/bible/get_commentary' \ --options '{"commentary":"Barnes","reference":"John 3:16"}' ``` ### MCP Call the FCX MCP retrieve tool with this object: ```json { "provider": "studylight-org", "capability": "bible/get_commentary", "options": { "commentary": "Barnes", "reference": "John 3:16" } } ``` Ask for only the returned fields needed by the task. ## 5. Full request shape ```json { "provider": "studylight-org", "capability": "bible/get_commentary", "options": { "commentary": "Barnes", "reference": "John 3:16" } } ``` ## 6. Response data The response includes `success`, `provider`, `capability`, `creditsCost` and `data`. This example shows the provider payload in `data`: ```json { "book": { "name": "John", "slug": "john", "usfm": "JHN" }, "chapter": 3, "commentary": { "authors": [ "Albert Barnes" ], "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "bnb", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1832, before 1929", "name": "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible", "published": 1832, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb.html" }, "entries": [ { "heading": "Verse 16", "reference": "John 3:16", "scripture_references": [ "John 6:33", "John 17:21", "Hebrews 2:9", "2 Corinthians 5:15", "1 John 2:2", "Galatians 1:4", "Romans 8:32", "Luke 22:19", "John 1:14" ], "text": "For God so loved — This does not mean that God approved the conduct of men, but that he had benevolent feelings toward them, or was “earnestly desirous” of their happiness. God hates wickedness, but he still desires the Happiness of those who are sinful. “He hates the sin, but loves the sinner.” A parent may love his child and desire his welfare, and yet be strongly opposed to the conduct of that child. When we approve the conduct of another, this is the love of complacency; when we desire simply their happiness, this is the love of benevolence.\nThe world — All mankind. It does not mean any particular part of the world, but man as man - the race that had rebelled and that deserved to die. See John 6:33; John 17:21. His love for the world, or for all mankind, in giving his Son, was shown by these circumstances:\n- All the world was in ruin, and exposed to the wrath of God.\n- All people were in a hopeless condition.\n- God gave his Son. Man had no claim on him; it was a gift - an undeserved gift.\n- He gave him up to extreme sufferings, even the bitter pains of death on the cross.\n- It was for all the world. He tasted “death for every man,” Hebrews 2:9. He “died for all,” 2 Corinthians 5:15. “He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,” 1 John 2:2.\nThat he gave — It was a free and unmerited gift. Man had no claim: and when there was no eye to pity or arm to save, it pleased God to give his Son into the hands of men to die in their stead, Galatians 1:4; Romans 8:32; Luke 22:19. It was the mere movement of love; the expression of eternal compassion, and of a desire, that sinners should not perish forever.\nHis only-begotten Son — See the notes at John 1:14. This is the highest expression of love of which we can conceive. A parent who should give up his only son to die for others who are guilty if this could or might be done - would show higher love than could be manifested in any other way. So it shows the depth of the love of God, that he was willing. to give his only Son into the hands of sinful men that he might be slain, and thus redeem them from eternal sorrow.", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/john-3.html#verse-16", "verse_end": 16, "verse_start": 16 } ], "introduction": null, "observed_at_ms": 1793157029066, "reference": "John 3:16", "source_url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/john-3.html" } ``` ## API reference-derived contract The following capability contract is generated from the same normalized Alexandria API reference exposed in the API spec. ### Get commentary - Capability: `bible/get_commentary` - Description: One commentary's remarks on a Bible chapter or verse range from StudyLight.org, as plain text with each remark's verse span, the scripture it cites and its source URL, plus the work's authors, publication year and licence. Tolerant references ("John 3:16", "Jn 3:16-18", "Rom 8", "Ps 23") and commentary names or codes ("Barnes", "Pulpit Commentary", "ebc"). A whole chapter also returns the chapter introduction. - Instructions: Quote or summarize what a classic commentator (Barnes, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Benson, Poole, Wesley, the Cambridge Bible, Lange, Coke, Gray) says about a passage, for sermon preparation, Bible study or citation. A copyrighted commentary is invalid_input (not_public_domain); a book or chapter the series does not cover is not_found. One chapter per call. - Cost: 5 credits per call - Capability file: [Get commentary](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/studylight-org/bible/get_commentary) Accepted options: - `book` (string): Book name, abbreviation or USFM code (John, Jn, JHN, 1 Corinthians); use with chapter instead of reference. Example: `` - `chapter` (number): Chapter number, with book. Example: `10` - `commentary` (string, required): Commentary series: a StudyLight code (bnb, tpc, ebc, rbc, mpc, wen, cgt, teb, lcc, tcc, jgc) or a name or author ("Barnes", "Pulpit Commentary", "Ellicott", "Cambridge Bible"). list_commentaries gives every code. Example: `` - `include_introduction` (boolean): Also return the chapter introduction for a verse request. Example: `false` - `reference` (string): A Bible reference: book name or abbreviation, chapter and optional verse or range, e.g. "John 3:16", "Jn 3", "1 Cor 13:4-7", "Ps 23". Use this or book with chapter. Example: `` - `verse_end` (number): Last verse, with verse_start; defaults to verse_start. Example: `10` - `verse_start` (number): First verse, with book and chapter; omit for the whole chapter. Example: `10` Response schema example: ```json { "book": { "name": "John", "slug": "john", "usfm": "JHN" }, "chapter": 3, "commentary": { "authors": [ "Albert Barnes" ], "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "bnb", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1832, before 1929", "name": "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible", "published": 1832, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb.html" }, "entries": [ { "heading": "Verse 16", "reference": "John 3:16", "scripture_references": [ "John 6:33", "John 17:21", "Hebrews 2:9", "2 Corinthians 5:15", "1 John 2:2", "Galatians 1:4", "Romans 8:32", "Luke 22:19", "John 1:14" ], "text": "For God so loved — This does not mean that God approved the conduct of men, but that he had benevolent feelings toward them, or was “earnestly desirous” of their happiness. God hates wickedness, but he still desires the Happiness of those who are sinful. “He hates the sin, but loves the sinner.” A parent may love his child and desire his welfare, and yet be strongly opposed to the conduct of that child. When we approve the conduct of another, this is the love of complacency; when we desire simply their happiness, this is the love of benevolence.\nThe world — All mankind. It does not mean any particular part of the world, but man as man - the race that had rebelled and that deserved to die. See John 6:33; John 17:21. His love for the world, or for all mankind, in giving his Son, was shown by these circumstances:\n- All the world was in ruin, and exposed to the wrath of God.\n- All people were in a hopeless condition.\n- God gave his Son. Man had no claim on him; it was a gift - an undeserved gift.\n- He gave him up to extreme sufferings, even the bitter pains of death on the cross.\n- It was for all the world. He tasted “death for every man,” Hebrews 2:9. He “died for all,” 2 Corinthians 5:15. “He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,” 1 John 2:2.\nThat he gave — It was a free and unmerited gift. Man had no claim: and when there was no eye to pity or arm to save, it pleased God to give his Son into the hands of men to die in their stead, Galatians 1:4; Romans 8:32; Luke 22:19. It was the mere movement of love; the expression of eternal compassion, and of a desire, that sinners should not perish forever.\nHis only-begotten Son — See the notes at John 1:14. This is the highest expression of love of which we can conceive. A parent who should give up his only son to die for others who are guilty if this could or might be done - would show higher love than could be manifested in any other way. So it shows the depth of the love of God, that he was willing. to give his only Son into the hands of sinful men that he might be slain, and thus redeem them from eternal sorrow.", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/john-3.html#verse-16", "verse_end": 16, "verse_start": 16 } ], "introduction": null, "observed_at_ms": 1793157029066, "reference": "John 3:16", "source_url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/john-3.html" } ``` ### Get verse commentaries - Capability: `bible/get_verse_commentaries` - Description: Every public-domain commentary's remark on one Bible verse from StudyLight.org's verse-by-verse view, in one call: commentary code and title, author, publication year, tradition, whether the remark is on the verse or its passage, the text and its source URL. Copyrighted commentaries on the page are listed under omitted with the reason, without text. - Instructions: Compare what Clarke, Barnes, Calvin, Henry, Spurgeon, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, JFB, Wesley, Benson and others say about a single verse ("John 3:16"), or gather commentary for a verse study. commentaries narrows to named series. A verse the chapter lacks is not_found; a range or whole chapter is invalid_input, so use get_commentary for those. - Cost: 5 credits per call - Capability file: [Get verse commentaries](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/studylight-org/bible/get_verse_commentaries) Accepted options: - `book` (string): Book name, abbreviation or USFM code (John, Jn, JHN, 1 Corinthians); use with chapter instead of reference. Example: `` - `chapter` (number): Chapter number, with book. Example: `10` - `commentaries` (string[]): Only these series, by code or name ("bnb", "Ellicott"). Example: `[]` - `max_chars` (number): Longest text per commentary, in characters; longer remarks are cut and flagged truncated. Default 4000. Example: `200` - `reference` (string): One verse: "John 3:16", "Jn 3.16", "Ps 23:1", "Jude 3". Use this or book, chapter and verse. Example: `` - `verse` (number): Verse number, with book and chapter. Example: `10` Response schema example: ```json { "book": { "name": "John", "slug": "john", "usfm": "JHN" }, "chapter": 3, "commentaries": [ { "author": "Adam Clarke", "bible_helloao_id": "adam-clarke", "code": "acc", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "denomination": "Wesleyan/Methodist", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1810, before 1929", "name": "Clarke's Commentary", "published": 1810, "scope": "This verse", "scripture_references": [ "1 John 3:1" ], "text": "For God so loved the world — Such a love as that which induced God to give his only begotten son to die for the world could not be described: Jesus Christ does not attempt it. He has put an eternity of meaning in the particle ουτω, so, and left a subject for everlasting contemplation, wonder, and praise, to angels and to men. The same evangelist uses a similar mode of expression, 1 John 3:1: Behold, WHAT MANNER of love, ποταπην αγαπην, the Father hath bestowed upon us.\nFrom the subject before him, let the reader attend to the following particulars.\nFirst, The world was in a ruinous, condemned state, about to perish everlastingly; and was utterly without power to rescue itself from destruction.\nSecondly, That God, through the impulse of his eternal love, provided for its rescue and salvation, by giving his Son to die for it.\nThirdly, That the sacrifice of Jesus was the only mean by which the redemption of man could be effected, and that it is absolutely sufficient to accomplish this gracious design: for it would have been inconsistent with the wisdom of God, to have appointed a sacrifice greater in itself, or less in its merit, than what the urgent necessities of the case required.\nFourthly, That sin must be an indescribable evil, when it required no less a sacrifice, to make atonement for it, than God manifested in the flesh.\nFifthly, That no man is saved through this sacrifice, but he that believes, i.e. who credits what God has spoken concerning Christ, his sacrifice, the e...", "tradition": "Arminian", "truncated": true, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/acc/john-3.html#verse-16" }, { "author": "Albert Barnes", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "bnb", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "denomination": "Presbyterian", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1832, before 1929", "name": "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible", "published": 1832, "scope": "This verse", "scripture_references": [ "John 6:33", "John 17:21", "Hebrews 2:9", "2 Corinthians 5:15", "1 John 2:2", "Galatians 1:4", "Romans 8:32", "Luke 22:19", "John 1:14" ], "text": "For God so loved — This does not mean that God approved the conduct of men, but that he had benevolent feelings toward them, or was “earnestly desirous” of their happiness. God hates wickedness, but he still desires the Happiness of those who are sinful. “He hates the sin, but loves the sinner.” A parent may love his child and desire his welfare, and yet be strongly opposed to the conduct of that child. When we approve the conduct of another, this is the love of complacency; when we desire simply their happiness, this is the love of benevolence.\nThe world — All mankind. It does not mean any particular part of the world, but man as man - the race that had rebelled and that deserved to die. See John 6:33; John 17:21. His love for the world, or for all mankind, in giving his Son, was shown by these circumstances:\n- All the world was in ruin, and exposed to the wrath of God.\n- All people were in a hopeless condition.\n- God gave his Son. Man had no claim on him; it was a gift - an undeserved gift.\n- He gave him up to extreme sufferings, even the bitter pains of death on the cross.\n- It was for all the world. He tasted “death for every man,” Hebrews 2:9. He “died for all,” 2 Corinthians 5:15. “He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,” 1 John 2:2.\nThat he gave — It was a free and unmerited gift. Man had no claim: and when there was no eye to pity or arm to save, it pleased God to give his Son into the hands of men to die in their stead, Galatians 1:4; Romans 8:32; Luk...", "tradition": "Calvinist", "truncated": true, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/john-3.html#verse-16" }, { "author": "John Calvin", "bible_helloao_id": "john-calvin", "code": "cal", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "denomination": "Non-Denominational", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1540, before 1929", "name": "Calvin's Commentary on the Bible", "published": 1540, "scope": "This verse", "scripture_references": [ "Ephesians 1:5", "Romans 5:8" ], "text": "16.For God so loved the world. Christ opens up the first cause, and, as it were, the source of our salvation, and he does so, that no doubt may remain; for our minds cannot find calm repose, until we arrive at the unmerited love of God. As the whole matter of our salvation must not be sought any where else than in Christ, so we must see whence Christ came to us, and why he was offered to be our Savior. Both points are distinctly stated to us: namely, that faith in Christ brings life to all, and that Christ brought life, because the Heavenly Father loves the human race, and wishes that they should not perish. And this order ought to be carefully observed; for such is the wicked ambition which belongs to our nature, that when the question relates to the origin of our salvation, we quickly form diabolical imaginations about our own merits. Accordingly, we imagine that God is reconciled to us, because he has reckoned us worthy that he should look upon us. But Scripture everywhere extols his pure and unmingled mercy, which sets aside all merits.\nAnd the words of Christ mean nothing else, when he declares the cause to be in the love of God. For if we wish to ascend higher, the Spirit shuts the door by the mouth of Paul, when he informs us that this love was founded on the purpose of his will, (Ephesians 1:5.) And, indeed, it is very evident that Christ spoke in this manner, in order to draw away men from the contemplation of themselves to look at the mercy of God alone. Nor does he...", "tradition": "Calvinist", "truncated": true, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/cal/john-3.html#verse-16" }, { "author": "Matthew Henry", "bible_helloao_id": "matthew-henry", "code": "mhm", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is available on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Website.", "denomination": "Nonconformist", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1708, before 1929", "name": "Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible", "published": 1708, "scope": "A passage", "scripture_references": [ "John 3:2", "Malachi 2:7", "Psalms 63:6", "Psalms 119:48", "Galatians 2:2", "Isaiah 19:20", "John 3:11-12", "John 3:3-8", "John 3:3", "Galatians 4:9", "Luke 1:3", "John 3:31", "John 19:11", "John 1:13", "1 Corinthians 2:4", "1 Corinthians 6:11-12", "John 3:4", "Philippians 3:5", "John 3:5-8", "John 3:5", "Romans 3:3-4", "1 Peter 1:2", "Titus 3:5", "John 3:6", "Genesis 6:3", "Genesis 2:7", "John 3:7", "Matthew 3:11", "1 Corinthians 6:11", "Ezekiel 36:25", "John 7:38-39", "Isaiah 44:3", "Genesis 1:20", "John 3:8", "Acts 2:2", "Ezekiel 37:9", "Song of Solomon 4:16", "Psalms 148:8", "1 Corinthians 12:11", "Acts 9:11", "1 Kings 22:24", "Ecclesiastes 11:5", "Psalms 139:14", "John 3:9", "Psalms 50:5", "Ezekiel 18:31", "Ezekiel 36:25-26", "John 3:11-13", "John 3:11", "John 14:23", "Proverbs 8:30", "John 3:12", "Matthew 11:17", "John 3:13", "John 1:18", "Matthew 11:27", "Proverbs 30:4", "Deuteronomy 30:12", "1 Corinthians 15:47", "2 Chronicles 7:14", "Psalms 80:14", "Nehemiah 9:13", "Psalms 57:3", "John 7:13", "1 Corinthians 2:8", "Acts 20:28", "John 3:14-18", "1 Timothy 1:15", "John 3:14-15", "John 3:16-18", "Numbers 21:6-9", "Genesis 3:1", "Proverbs 23:30-32", "Revelation 1:15", "Luke 24:26", "Luke 24:46", "John 12:32-33", "Revelation 14:6", "Isaiah 11:10", "1 Corinthians 10:9", "Numbers 21:9", "Isaiah 45:22", "John 3:16-17", "John 3:16", "Acts 2:23", "Romans 5:8", "1 John 4:10", "Ezekiel 16:6", "Ezekiel 16:8", "1 John 2:2", "Ecclesiastes 4:14", "John 3:17", "Acts 17:26", "John 5:22", "John 5:27", "John 3:18", "Romans 8:1", "1 Corinthians 11:32", "John 3:18-21", "John 3:19", "Colossians 1:16", "Job 21:14", "John 3:20-21", "John 3:20", "Job 24:13", "Job 31:33", "Job 38:12-13", "Ephesians 5:13", "John 3:21", "3 John 1:5", "2 Corinthians 1:12", "John 1:47", "1 Kings 15:14", "Psalms 26:2", "Galatians 6:4" ], "text": "Christ's Interview with Nicodemus.\nThere was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in...", "tradition": "Calvinist", "truncated": true, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhm/john-3.html#verses-1-21" }, { "author": "Charles Haddon Spurgeon", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "spe", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "denomination": "Baptist", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1892, before 1929", "name": "Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible", "published": 1892, "scope": "This verse", "scripture_references": [], "text": "Immeasurable Love\nJune 7, 1885\nby\nC. H. SPURGEON\n(1834-1892)\n\"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that\nwhosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.\"-\nJohn 3:16\nI was very greatly surprised the other day, in looking over the list of texts\nfrom which I have preached, to find that I have no record of ever having\nspoken from this verse. This is all the more singular, because I can truly\nsay that it might be put in the forefront of all my volumes of discourses as\nthe sole topic of my life's ministry. It has been my one and only business to\nset forth the love of God to men in Christ Jesus. I heard lately of an aged\nminister of whom it was said, \"Whatever his text, he never failed to set\nforth God as love, and Christ as the atonement for sin.\" I wish that much the\nsame may be said of me. My heart's desire has been to sound forth as with a\ntrumpet the good news that \"God so loved the world, that he gave his only\nbegotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have\neverlasting life.\"\nWe are about to meet around the communion table, and I cannot preach from\nthis text anything but a simple gospel sermon. Can you desire a better\npreparation for communion? We have fellowship with God and with one another\nupon the basis of the infinite love which is displayed in Jesus Christ our\nLord. The gospel is the fair white linen cloth which covers the table on\nwhich the Communion Feast is set. The higher truths, those truth...", "tradition": "Calvinist", "truncated": true, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/spe/john-3.html#verse-16" }, { "author": "Editor - Joseph Exell", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "tpc", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "denomination": "Non-Denominational", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1880, before 1929", "name": "The Pulpit Commentaries", "published": 1880, "scope": "This verse", "scripture_references": [ "1 John 2:2", "1 Timothy 2:4", "John 1:14", "John 1:18" ], "text": "On this verse\nFor God so loved the world. The Divine love to the whole of humanity in its condition of supreme need, i.e. apart from himself and his grace, has been of such a commanding, exhaustless, immeasurable kind, that it was equal to any emergency, and able to secure for the worst and most degraded, for the outcast, the serpent-bitten and the dying, a means of unlimited deliverance and uplifting. The Divine love is the sublime source of the whole proceeding, and it has been lavished on \"the world.\" This world cannot be the limited \"world\" of the Augustinian, Calvinian interpreters—the world of the elect; it is that \"whole world\" of which St. John speaks in 1 John 2:2. \"God will have all men to be saved\" (1 Timothy 2:4). Calvin himself says, \"Christ brought life, because the heavenly Father loves the human race, and wishes that they should not perish.\" Pharisaic interpretations of the Old Testament had left the outside world in judgment, to cursing and condign punishment, and had made Abrahamic descent and sacramental privilege the conditions of life and honour and royal freedom. Here the poor world is seen to be the object of such love, that he—the Father-God—gave, \"delivered up,\" we do not know certainly to \"what,\" but we may judge from the context that it was such a deliverance, or such giving up. as is involved in the uplifting of the Son of man upon his cross of humiliation and shame. But the Lord induces a more wonderful term to denote his own personality. This \"So...", "tradition": null, "truncated": true, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tpc/john-3.html#verse-16" }, { "author": "Editor - Joseph S. Exell", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "phc", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "denomination": "Non-Denominational", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1876, before 1929", "name": "Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary", "published": 1876, "scope": "A passage", "scripture_references": [ "John 20:30", "John 21:25", "Acts 20:35", "2 Corinthians 9:15", "1 John 4:9" ], "text": "These verses are confidently held by many to contain the reflections of the Evangelist, and not to be a continuation of our Lord’s discourse. But\n- there is not the slightest indication of a transition from Christ’s words to a disciple’s comments on them; and\n- we cannot think that our Lord would have let Nicodemus depart without a distinct assertion that the Son of man was none other than the Son of God, as the Baptist declared Him to be; and without further instruction in the mystery of redemption. Nicodemus was, we may believe, now a humble learner, and that now our Lord’s discourse flowed on uninterruptedly. The discourse is not, we may affirm, reported in full. The Evangelist, directed by the Spirit, recorded what was of universal interest and importance; and perhaps also we have at the close a condensation of our Lord’s utterance. St. John did not profess to have recorded every word spoken by the Saviour, any more than all His actions (John 20:30; John 21:25; Acts 20:35). God so loved, etc. — The love, and not the wrath of God, is the source of redemption for mankind. Gave His only begotten Son (2 Corinthians 9:15).—It was during this conversation most likely that John first heard this striking title (1 John 4:9). Believeth upon (εἰς).—Implying the idea of assured trust in the Son as the all-merciful and almighty.\nFor the full information on this passage, see the complete commentary →\nCopyright StatementThese files are public domain.", "tradition": null, "truncated": false, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/phc/john-3.html#verses-16-21" }, { "author": "Editor - Joseph Exell", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "tbi", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "denomination": "Non-Denominational", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1909, before 1929", "name": "The Biblical Illustrator", "published": 1909, "scope": "This verse", "scripture_references": [ "John 5:19", "Titus 3:4", "Psalms 11:7", "John 16:27", "Deuteronomy 7:7-8", "Matthew 11:26", "Romans 5:8", "1 John 3:16", "1 John 4:10", "Colossians 1:24", "Romans 8:32", "Romans 3:25-26", "Romans 4:25", "1 Peter 1:3", "John 2:25", "John 12:26", "Hebrews 5:8-9", "2 Corinthians 3:18", "Titus 3:5-6", "2 Corinthians 5:17", "Genesis 3:24", "Ephesians 3:12", "Hebrews 4:16", "John 3:18", "John 14:6", "1 John 5:11", "Romans 7:25", "1 Corinthians 15:57", "Acts 2:23", "Isaiah 42:1", "John 16:28", "Psalms 22:1-2", "John 6:32-33", "John 4:10", "Colossians 1:13", "Luke 22:22", "Romans 5:8-10", "1 John 4:19", "1 Peter 1:18", "Matthew 16:26", "1 Corinthians 3:20-21", "Romans 9:5", "2 Corinthians 1:20", "1 Timothy 6:17", "Hebrews 2:2-4", "Hebrews 12:3", "1 John 3:1", "John 3:14", "1 John 4:9", "Hebrews 11:1-40" ], "text": "John 3:16\nGod so loved the world, that He gave His-only begotten Son\nThe gospel in brief\nPliny declares that Cicero once saw the Iliad of Homer written in so small a character that it could be contained in a nutshell.\nPeter Bales, a celebrated caligrapher, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, wrote the whole Bible so that it was shut up in a common walnut as its casket. In these days of advanced mechanism even greater marvels in miniature have been achieved, but never has so much meaning been compressed into so small a space as in that famous little word “So,” in the text. (C. H. Spurgeon.)\nThe gospel\nThe text gives a deeper insight into the Divine character than the heavens which declare God’s glory and than those tender mercies of His providence which are over all His works.\n- THE DIVINE LOVE.\n- Its marvellousness. The world is\n- not the wondrously perfect material universe;\n- not the world of unfallen angels;\n- not a world of creatures such as Adam was when pronounced “very good.” Then had there been no wonder. But\n- the world the whole of which lieth in wickedness.\n- Its universality.\n- Salvation is as common as sunshine, yet if a man will close his eyes the sun is of no use to him. So while salvation is for all many put it away from them.\n- It was originally meant to be so. The Jews denied it because “they erred, not knowing the Scripture.” The promise to Abraham and renewed to Isaac and repeated by Isaiah was a universal one.\n- Salvation extends to the most ignorant and the ...", "tradition": null, "truncated": true, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tbi/john-3.html#verse-16" }, { "author": "Charles John Ellicott", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "ebc", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "denomination": "Anglican", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1878, before 1929", "name": "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers", "published": 1878, "scope": "This verse", "scripture_references": [ "1 John 4:7-11", "John 1:12", "Matthew 25:46" ], "text": "The last verse has spoken of “every one who believeth.” The thought went beyond the limits that Rabbis set to the kingdom of God. Its only limit is humanity. This thought is now repeated and strengthened by the “might not perish,” and the love of God is made the foundation on which it rests. Perhaps no verse in the Bible has been so much explained as this; perhaps no verse can be so little explained. Most young preachers have sermons upon it; older men learn that its meaning must be felt and thought rather than spoken. Still less can it be written; and this Note may not attempt to do more than indicate some lines of thought which may help to lead to others.\nGod so loved the world — Familiar as the words are to us, they were uttered to Nicodemus for the first time. They are the revelation of the nature of God, and the ground of our love to God and man. (Comp. Notes on 1 John 4:7-11.)\nHis only begotten Son — Here, once again, the Old Testament Scriptures suggest and explain the words used. Every Jew knew, and loved to think and tell of his forefather who was willing to sacrifice his own and only son in obedience to what he thought to be the will of God (Genesis 22). But Love gives, and does not require, sacrifice. God wills not that Abraham should give his son, but He gave His only begotten Son. The dread power that man has ever conceived—that is not God; the pursuing vengeance that sin has ever imagined—that is not God; the unsatisfied anger that sacrifice has ever suggested—t...", "tradition": "Arminian", "truncated": true, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/ebc/john-3.html#verse-16" }, { "author": "Robert Jamieson; A.R. Fausset; David Brown", "bible_helloao_id": "jamieson-fausset-brown", "code": "jfb", "copyright_statement": "These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text scanned by Woodside Bible Fellowship.This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-Brown Commentary is in the public domain and may be freely used and distributed.", "denomination": "Presbyterian", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1871, before 1929", "name": "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible", "published": 1871, "scope": "This verse", "scripture_references": [ "Romans 8:32", "Malachi 4:2" ], "text": "16. For God so loved, c.—What\nproclamation of the Gospel has been so oft on the lips of\nmissionaries and preachers in every age since it was first uttered?\nWhat has sent such thrilling sensations through millions of mankind?\nWhat has been honored to bring such multitudes to the feet of Christ?\nWhat to kindle in the cold and selfish breasts of mortals the fires\nof self-sacrificing love to mankind, as these words of transparent\nsimplicity, yet overpowering majesty? The picture embraces several\ndistinct compartments: \"THE\nWORLD\"—in its\nwidest sense—ready \"to perish\" the immense\n\"LOVE OF GOD\"\nto that perishing world, measurable only, and conceivable\nonly, by the gift which it drew forth from Him; THE\nGIFT itself—\"He so\nloved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,\" or,\nin the language of Paul, \"spared not His own Son\"\n(Romans 8:32), or in that addressed\nto Abraham when ready to offer Isaac on the altar, \"withheld\nnot His Son, His only Son, whom He loved\" (Romans 8:32); the FRUIT of\nthis stupendous gift—not only deliverance from impending\n\"perdition,\" but the bestowal of everlasting\nlife; the MODE in\nwhich all takes effect—by \"believing\" on the Son.\nHow would Nicodemus' narrow Judaism become invisible in the blaze of\nthis Sun of righteousness seen rising on \"the world\" with\nhealing in His wings! (Malachi 4:2).\nCopyright StatementThese files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text scanned by Woodside Bible Fellowship.\nThis expanded edition of the Jameison...", "tradition": "Calvinist", "truncated": true, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/jfb/john-3.html#verse-16" }, { "author": "John Wesley", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "wen", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is available on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Website.", "denomination": "Wesleyan/Methodist", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1755, before 1929", "name": "Wesley's Explanatory Notes", "published": 1755, "scope": "This verse", "scripture_references": [ "Galatians 4:4" ], "text": "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.\nYea, and this was the very design of God’s love in sending him into the world.\nWhosoever believeth on him — With that faith which worketh by love, and hold fast the beginning of his confidence steadfast to the end.\nGod so loved the world — That is, all men under heaven; even those that despise his love, and will for that cause finally perish. Otherwise not to believe would be no sin to them. For what should they believe? Ought they to believe that Christ was given for them? Then he was given for them.\nHe gave his only Son — Truly and seriously. And the Son of God gave himself, Galatians 4:4, truly and seriously.\nCopyright StatementThese files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is available on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Website.", "tradition": "Arminian", "truncated": false, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/wen/john-3.html#verse-16" }, { "author": "George Leo Haydock", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "hcc", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "denomination": "Catholic", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1811, before 1929", "name": "Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary", "published": 1811, "scope": "A passage", "scripture_references": [], "text": "Give his only begotten Son --- God sent not his Son into the world. He was then his Son, his only begotten Son, before he sent him into the world. He was not, therefore, his Son, only by the incarnation, but was his Son from the beginning, as he was also his word from all eternity. This was the constant doctrine of the Church, and of the Fathers, against the heresy of the Arians, that God was always Father,[1] and the Son always the eternal Son of the eternal Father. See note on chap. i. ver. 14. (Witham) --- The world may be saved. Why, says St. Augustine, is Christ called the Saviour of the world, unless from the obligation he took upon himself at his birth? He has come like a good physician, effectually to save mankind. The man, therefore, destroys himself, who refuses to follow the prescriptions of his physician. (St. Augustine)\n===============================\n[BIBLIOGRAPHY]\nGreek: Aei Theos, aei uios; ama pater, ama uios. Arius began his heresy by denying this, as it appears in his letter to Eusebius, of Nicomedia, in St. Epiphanius, hær. 69, p. 731.\nCopyright StatementThese files are public domain.", "tradition": "Catholic", "truncated": false, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/hcc/john-3.html#verses-16-17" }, { "author": "Joseph Benson", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "rbc", "copyright_statement": "These files are public domain.", "denomination": "Wesleyan/Methodist", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1811, before 1929", "name": "Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments", "published": 1811, "scope": "A passage", "scripture_references": [ "Galatians 2:20" ], "text": "For God so loved the world, — &c. Here our Lord proceeds to inform Nicodemus, that men owed the blessings above mentioned to the free and immense love of God the Father, who desired their salvation with such ardency, that he sent his only-begotten Son to bestow it upon them; and that it is designed for all that will accept of it in the way God hath appointed.\nGod, — says he, so loved the world, that is, all men under heaven; even those that despise his love, and will for that cause finally perish, that he gave his only-begotten Son, truly and seriously: and the Son of God gave himself, (Galatians 2:20,) truly and seriously;\nthat whosoever believeth in him — With that faith which worketh by love, and holdeth fast the beginning of his confidence steadfast to the end;\nshould not perish — Under the sentence of divine justice, as he otherwise must have done;\nbut have everlasting life — The life of grace, and the life of glory, through the mere mercy of God, and the infinite merits of his Son.\nFor God sent not his Son to condemn the world — To execute that vengeance upon them which their guilt might have taught them to fear; nor did he send him to destroy the Gentile nations, which prejudiced Jews have supposed would be one principal end of the Messiah’s coming. God, says Grotius, is often described as an avenger in the Old Testament: therefore the guilty might reasonably expect, that when his Son came into the world, it would be to execute vengeance in his Father’s name.\nBut that ...", "tradition": "Arminian", "truncated": true, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/rbc/john-3.html#verses-16-19" } ], "observed_at_ms": 1793157029191, "omitted": [ { "code": "bcc", "license": "copyrighted", "license_basis": "the copyright statement claims rights: \"Coffman's Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.\"", "name": "Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible", "published": 1971 }, { "code": "dcc", "license": "copyrighted", "license_basis": "published 1999, after 1928", "name": "Dr. Constable's Expository Notes", "published": 1999 }, { "code": "geb", "license": "copyrighted", "license_basis": "the copyright statement claims rights: \"The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rights Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855\"", "name": "Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible", "published": 1746 }, { "code": "dsb", "license": "copyrighted", "license_basis": "published 1953, after 1928", "name": "Barclay's Daily Study Bible", "published": 1953 }, { "code": "csc", "license": "copyrighted", "license_basis": "the copyright statement claims rights: \"Copyright © 2014, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, Ca.\"", "name": "Smith's Bible Commentary", "published": 2008 }, { "code": "bbc", "license": "copyrighted", "license_basis": "published 1988, after 1928", "name": "Bridgeway Bible Commentary", "published": 1988 }, { "code": "ttb", "license": "copyrighted", "license_basis": "the copyright statement claims rights: \"Copyright © 2008 Thru the Bible Radio Network\"", "name": "'Thru the Bible' with Dr. J. Vernon McGee (Text & Audio)", "published": 1972 }, { "code": "rdc", "license": "copyrighted", "license_basis": "the copyright statement claims rights: \"These files are copyrighted by Roger E. Dickson. Used by permission.\"", "name": "Dickson Teacher's Bible Commentary", "published": 2023 } ], "reference": "John 3:16", "source_url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentary/john/3-16.html", "verse": 16 } ``` ### List commentaries - Capability: `bible/list_commentaries` - Description: StudyLight.org's English Bible commentary series, most read first, with the code get_commentary takes, title, author with life dates, first publication year, era, theological tradition, coverage (whole Bible, New Testament, single books), popularity rank and licence. Public-domain series only by default; include_copyrighted adds the modern ones as metadata. - Instructions: Find a commentary's code, pick classic commentators from different traditions, or check whether a commentary is public domain before get_commentary. query filters by code, title, author or description ("Barnes", "Greek", "Revelation"). - Cost: 5 credits per call - Capability file: [List commentaries](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/studylight-org/bible/list_commentaries) Accepted options: - `include_copyrighted` (boolean): Also list copyrighted and unknown-licence series (metadata only). Default false. Example: `false` - `limit` (number): Most series to return, most read first. Default 200. Example: `10` - `query` (string): Words to match in the code, title, author or description. Example: `` Response schema example: ```json { "commentaries": [ { "author": "Adam Clarke", "bible_helloao_id": "adam-clarke", "code": "acc", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Adam Clarke (1760 or 1762-1832), a British Methodist scholar, spent forty years on this commentary. Issued in six volumes of roughly a thousand pages each, it was a primary Methodist resource for two centuries.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1810, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Clarke's Commentary", "popularity_rank": 2, "published": 1810, "short_name": "Clarke Commentary", "tradition": "Arminianism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/acc.html" }, { "author": "Albert Barnes", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "bnb", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Albert Barnes (1798-1870), Princeton-trained and pastor of Philadelphia's First Presbyterian Church from 1830 to 1867, wrote notes running nearly five times the length of the King James Bible itself.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1832, before 1929", "life_dates": "1798-1870", "name": "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible", "popularity_rank": 3, "published": 1832, "short_name": "Barnes' Notes", "tradition": "Calvinism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb.html" }, { "author": "John Calvin", "bible_helloao_id": "john-calvin", "code": "cal", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Calvin's commentaries began with Romans in 1540 and all of Paul's epistles by 1550. He never covered the whole canon: Judges through Job, Proverbs through Song of Solomon, 2-3 John and Revelation are absent.", "era": "Reformation", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1540, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Calvin's Commentary on the Bible", "popularity_rank": 7, "published": 1540, "short_name": "Calvin's Commentary", "tradition": "Calvinism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/cal.html" }, { "author": "Matthew Henry", "bible_helloao_id": "matthew-henry", "code": "mhm", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Published in six volumes from 1708, combining practical application, devotional insight and scholarship. Henry died before finishing; Romans through Revelation were completed from his notes by fellow ministers including John Evans and William Tong.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1708, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible", "popularity_rank": 8, "published": 1708, "short_name": "Henry's Complete", "tradition": "Calvinism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhm.html" }, { "author": "Charles Haddon Spurgeon", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "spe", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Short expositions of individual passages drawn from Spurgeon's sermon material, gathered into commentary form across sixty-one books. Occasional rather than systematic, valuable for illustration and pastoral insight rather than continuous exegesis.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1892, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible", "popularity_rank": 9, "published": 1892, "short_name": "Spurgeon's Verse Expositions", "tradition": "Calvinism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/spe.html" }, { "author": "Editor - Joseph Exell", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "tpc", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Twenty-three volumes and over 20,000 pages edited by Joseph Exell and H.D.M. Spence-Jones, pairing verse-by-verse exposition and background with homiletical treatments from several authors, assembled for building sermons and Bible studies.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1880, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "The Pulpit Commentaries", "popularity_rank": 10, "published": 1880, "short_name": "The Pulpit Commentaries", "tradition": null, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tpc.html" }, { "author": "Karl Keil and Franz Delitzsch", "bible_helloao_id": "keil-delitzsch", "code": "kdo", "coverage": "Old Testament", "description": "Keil (1807-1888) and Delitzsch (1813-1890) published this classic of conservative Old Testament scholarship from 1861 into the 1880s, introducing each book and analysing the Hebrew text with its grammatical and philological questions.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1861, before 1929", "life_dates": "1807-1888", "name": "Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary", "popularity_rank": 11, "published": 1861, "short_name": "Keil & Delitzsch", "tradition": "Lutheranism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/kdo.html" }, { "author": "Editor - Joseph Exell", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "tbi", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Exell's own subtitle says it: anecdotes, similes, emblems and illustrations, expository through homiletic, gathered from wide-ranging literature and arranged on the verses. Originally 56 volumes and over 34,000 pages.", "era": "20th century", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1909, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "The Biblical Illustrator", "popularity_rank": 13, "published": 1909, "short_name": "The Biblical Illustrator", "tradition": null, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tbi.html" }, { "author": "Henry Allen Ironside", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "isn", "coverage": "Individual Books", "description": "H.A. Ironside published more than eighty books and pamphlets. These notes cover the entire New Testament and all the Prophets, with the historical books that were available, book one of the Psalms, and Proverbs.", "era": "20th century", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1905, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Ironside's Notes on Selected Books", "popularity_rank": 14, "published": 1905, "short_name": "Ironside's Notes", "tradition": "Dispensationalism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/isn.html" }, { "author": "Editor - Joseph S. Exell", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "phc", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Edited by Joseph Exell and written by working preachers for working preachers: 37 volumes, nearly 19,000 pages, supplying critical notes, exposition and sermon illustrations for each passage. Funk & Wagnalls, 1892.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1876, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary", "popularity_rank": 17, "published": 1876, "short_name": "Preacher's Homiletical", "tradition": null, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/phc.html" }, { "author": "Matthew Poole", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "mpc", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Matthew Poole's two-volume English Annotations, published in 1685 and completed by friends after his death. Valued for prudent and judicious exposition; few Puritan names stand higher in British biblical scholarship.", "era": "Reformation", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1683, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible", "popularity_rank": 18, "published": 1683, "short_name": "Poole's Annotations", "tradition": "Calvinism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mpc.html" }, { "author": "John Trapp", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "jtc", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "John Trapp was an English Puritan whose five-volume commentary is still read for its pithy statements and quotable prose. Spurgeon quoted him frequently. This 1865-1868 edition covers every book of the Bible.", "era": "Reformation", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1646, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Trapp's Complete Commentary", "popularity_rank": 22, "published": 1646, "short_name": "Trapp's Commentary", "tradition": "Calvinism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/jtc.html" }, { "author": "Arno Clemens Gaebelein", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "gab", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Arno C. Gaebelein's annotations on the whole Bible, issued in nine volumes between 1913 and 1922 and a standard reference for most of a century. Dispensational in stance.", "era": "20th century", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1913, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Gaebelein's Annotated Bible", "popularity_rank": 23, "published": 1913, "short_name": "Gaebelein's Annotated", "tradition": "Dispensationalism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/gab.html" }, { "author": "Joseph Benson", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "rbc", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Joseph Benson, an English Methodist preacher, wrote critical, explanatory and practical notes on the whole Bible, with marginal readings, parallel texts and chapter summaries. Published in New York in 1857.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1811, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments", "popularity_rank": 24, "published": 1811, "short_name": "Benson's Commentary", "tradition": "Arminianism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/rbc.html" }, { "author": "John Wesley", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "wen", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "John Wesley's explanatory notes on the whole Bible, written between 1754 and 1765 and long a standard in the Methodist tradition. This public-domain text covers every book of the Bible.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1755, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Wesley's Explanatory Notes", "popularity_rank": 25, "published": 1755, "short_name": "Wesley's Notes", "tradition": "Arminianism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/wen.html" }, { "author": "Alexander MacLaren", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "mac", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910) spent almost sixty-five years in the ministry. Trained in Greek and Hebrew at Stepney College from 1842, he lived, as one account puts it, between his study, his pulpit and his pen.", "era": "20th century", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1904, before 1929", "life_dates": "1826-1910", "name": "MacLaren's Expositions of Holy Scripture", "popularity_rank": 26, "published": 1904, "short_name": "MacLaren's Expositions", "tradition": "Calvinism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mac.html" }, { "author": "Robert Jamieson; A.R. Fausset; David Brown", "bible_helloao_id": "jamieson-fausset-brown", "code": "jfb", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Long considered one of the best conservative commentaries on the entire Bible, offering practical insight from a Reformed evangelical perspective and balancing learning with devotion. First published 1871.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1871, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible", "popularity_rank": 27, "published": 1871, "short_name": "Commentary Critical", "tradition": "Calvinism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/jfb.html" }, { "author": "Editor - William Robertson Nicoll", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "teb", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Edited by William Robertson Nicoll and assembled from forty-nine volumes, with twenty-nine contributors who were eminent scholars and full-time preachers drawn from every significant branch of Protestantism.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1887, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "The Expositor's Bible Commentary", "popularity_rank": 28, "published": 1887, "short_name": "The Expositor's Bible Commentary", "tradition": "Calvinism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/teb.html" }, { "author": "Matthew Henry", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "mhn", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "The condensed edition of Matthew Henry's exposition, covering nearly every verse in a single stream of comment. For over 250 years among the most widely used of all Bible commentaries.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1710, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible", "popularity_rank": 30, "published": 1710, "short_name": "Henry's Concise", "tradition": "Calvinism", "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhn.html" }, { "author": "Compiler - Samuel Bagster", "bible_helloao_id": null, "code": "tsk", "coverage": "Whole Bible", "description": "Compiled around 1830 by London publisher Samuel Bagster from the references of Canne, Browne, Blayney, Scott and others, its roughly 380,000 cross-references let Scripture serve as its own expositor. Enhanced edition, 2010.", "era": "18th – 19th cent.", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1834, before 1929", "life_dates": null, "name": "Treasury of Scripture Knowledge", "popularity_rank": 31, "published": 1834, "short_name": "Treasury of Scripture Knowledge", "tradition": null, "url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tsk.html" } ], "note": "Public-domain series only (published by 1928, no rights claimed). Set include_copyrighted to list the others as metadata.", "observed_at_ms": 1793157028949, "omitted_not_public_domain": 58, "source_url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng.html", "total": 97 } ``` ### Resolve reference - Capability: `bible/resolve_reference` - Description: Resolve a Bible reference or book and chapter ("Jn 3:16", "1 Cor 13", "Song of Songs 2") into StudyLight.org identifiers and pages: the book's name, USFM code and site slug, the verse-by-verse commentary page for a single verse, and, with a commentary, that series' book page, chapter page and the chapters it covers. - Instructions: Check that a commentary covers a book or chapter before get_commentary, list which chapters of a book a series covers, or turn a reference into StudyLight URLs to cite. A book or chapter the series does not cover is not_found. - Cost: 5 credits per call - Capability file: [Resolve reference](https://alexandria.firecrawl.dev/agents/providers/studylight-org/bible/resolve_reference) Accepted options: - `book` (string): Book name, abbreviation or USFM code (John, Jn, JHN, 1 Corinthians); use with chapter instead of reference. Example: `` - `chapter` (number): Chapter number, with book. Example: `10` - `commentary` (string): Optional series code or name; adds that series' pages for the book and chapter. Example: `` - `reference` (string): A Bible reference: book name or abbreviation, chapter and optional verse or range, e.g. "John 3:16", "Jn 3", "1 Cor 13:4-7", "Ps 23". Use this or book with chapter. Example: `` - `verse_end` (number): Last verse, with verse_start. Example: `10` - `verse_start` (number): First verse, with book and chapter. Example: `10` Response schema example: ```json { "book": { "name": "John", "slug": "john", "usfm": "JHN" }, "chapter": 3, "commentary": { "book_url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/john.html", "chapter_url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/john-3.html", "chapters_available": [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 ], "code": "bnb", "license": "public_domain", "license_basis": "first published 1832, before 1929", "name": "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible", "series_url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb.html" }, "observed_at_ms": 1793157029202, "reference": "John 3:16", "verse_commentary_url": "https://www.studylight.org/commentary/john/3-16.html", "verse_end": 16, "verse_start": 16 } ```