Although hardly known in the modern era, the Glossa Ordinaria was the most popular and influential biblical commentary of the Middle Ages, surviving in thousands of manuscripts and referenced constantly by Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and other medieval schoolmen. Comprised chiefly of excerpts from the patristic exegesis of Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great, and many others, the Glossa stands as a unique witness and aid to reading Scripture within the Church's Tradition.

Based on the Latin text of the edition printed by Adoph Rusch, this first English translation of the Glossa on Genesis presents a wealth of patristic and medieval insight on the first book of the Old Testament, elucidating how the saving work of Christ was prefigured from "the beginning" in the events of Genesis.

Whether in manuscript or print form, one of the most distinctive elements of the Glossa Ordinaria is its layout, which features a central column of biblical text surrounded by marginal "glosses" or exegetical notes and interwoven with short interlinear glosses. This format has been retained in this new English translation of the Biblia cum Glossa Ordinaria, bringing the reader one step closer to encountering the Bible as its medieval readers did.