The interpretation timeline

Exod 12:12

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Exod 12:12 · Douay-Rheims

“And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.”

Patristic before A.D. 750

636

A.D.

Isidore of Seville Patristic

c. A.D. 560–636

“In what follows, "on their gods I shall pass judgment," the Hebrews affirm that on the night on which the people departed, all the temples in Egypt were destroyed, either by an earthquake or by a bolt of lightning. But we say, spiritually, that when we depart from Egypt, the idols of error take flight and the whole culture of perverse dogmas is crushed.”

Source

Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.