How to Footnote a Commentary in the Bible
The general rule is that Bible commentaries must be cited in the same manner as any other book. This means you will need to collect all the same bibliographic data: name of the author, editor, place of publication, publisher, date of publication and so on, depending on which citation system you prefer. Fortunately, for very well-known texts, particularly medieval commentaries, it is considered acceptable to merely cite the author and the specific biblical chapter and verse (e.g. Rashi to Deuteronomy 7:11).
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Instructions
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Identify the author of the commentary. This is especially important if you are working with an anthology of commentaries, organized on a verse-by-verse basis.
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Determine the conventions required for the paper you are writing. If you are writing for publication, this information should be available in a style sheet provided by the publisher. If you are writing a research paper, contact your instructor. Ask two specific questions: which general citation method should be used (e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), and if short citations of standard commentaries are allowed. If short citations are allowed, simply cite the name of the commentator and the chapter and verse, for example, "Nachmanides to Leviticus 1:7."
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Organize the bibliographic data from the commentary into the format required by your citation system. In APA, for example, a chapter in an edited book would be cited as follows: Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial (if applicable). (Year of publication). Title of commentary. In Editor's First Initial. Middle Initial. Last Name (Ed.), Title of Book (italicized) (pp. page numbers) Place of Publication: Publisher. Here's an example: Doe, J. (1928). Studies in Exodus. In P. Almoni (Ed.). Modern Bible Commentary (pp. 46-92) Miami: Bible Press.
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Prepare a works cited page. Even though you may have used the short citation system, you should still provide a full bibliographic description of the specific editions and/or translation you used.
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References
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