The interpretation timeline

Exod 22:1

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Exod 22:1 · Douay-Rheims
“If any man steal an ox or a sheep, and kill or sell it: he shall restore five oxen for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
407
A.D.
John Chrysostom Patristic
A.D. 347–407
“Therefore the thief being taken pays fourfold, but he that spoils by violence is worse than if he steals. And if this last ought to give fourfold what he stole, the extortioner should give tenfold and much more. Even so he can make atonement for his justice. For of almsgiving not even then will he receive the reward. Therefore says Zaccheus, "I will restore what I have taken by false accusation fourfold, and the half of my goods I will give to the poor." And if under the law one ought to give fourfold, much more under grace. And if this is so for one who steals, much more it is so for one who spoils by violence.”
Source
197 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
604
A.D.
Gregory the Great Patristic
c. A.D. 540–604
“Some think that the precepts of the Old Testament are stricter than those of the New; but these are certainly deceived by careless consideration. For in the Old Testament, not avarice but robbery is punished. There, property unjustly taken is punished by fourfold restitution. But here this rich man is not blamed for taking what belonged to others, but for not giving what was his own. Nor is it said that he oppressed anyone by violence, but that he exalted himself in the things he had received. From this, therefore, we must especially conclude with what punishment he should be punished who seizes what belongs to others, if he is struck with the condemnation of hell who does not share his own possessions. Therefore let no one consider himself safe, saying: "Behold, I do not seize what belongs to others, but I enjoy things lawfully granted to me," because this rich man was not punished for taking what belonged to others, but because he wrongly abandoned himself to the things he had received.”
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.