The Popular Commentary of the Bible by Paul E. Kretzmann, Ph. D., D. D., has been a favorite among confessional Lutherans since publication of the first volume in 1921. The four volume work, completed in 1924, consists of nearly 3,000 pages. Kretzmann, as it is popularly known, has been out of print for quite some time. Many of us have found copies in used bookstores. The project was initiated so that Kretzmann can be available to everyone with the click of a mouse.

The Lutheran Witness, in 1922, had an article on How the "Popular Commentary" Was Written. It gives a brief background of the work.

The Popular Commentary is in the public domain. The original volumes were not copyrighted. Our online edition of Popular Commentary constitutes a new edition of the work in at least this regard: we have edited the spelling for consistency (actually this is still an ongoing process), and have, of course, added many spelling errors of our own, since this is an unpaid public effort.

We do claim the copyright on the electronic edition, but only to assure that it is not tampered with. We give full permission to replicate and distribute the text in any form whatsoever, printed or electronic, so long as the content itself is not altered, other than to correct scanning errors, fix formatting, change fonts, etc.