The interpretation timeline

Exod 15:12

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Exod 15:12 · Douay-Rheims
“Thou stretchedst forth thy hand, and the earth swallowed them.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
430
A.D.
Augustine of Hippo Patristic
A.D. 354–430
“Certainly at that time no yawning chasm of the earth swallowed up any of the Egyptians; they were covered by water, they perished in the sea. So what's the meaning of "You stretched out your right hand, the earth devoured them"? Or are we correct in understanding God's right hand to be the one of whom Isaiah says, "And the arm of the Lord, to whom has it been revealed"? That, you see, is the only Son, whom the Father did not spare "but handed him over for us all." And thus he stretched out his right hand on the cross, and the earth devoured the godless, when they thought of themselves as victorious and of him as despicable in defeat.”
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.