The interpretation timeline

Ezek 16:32

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Ezek 16:32 · Douay-Rheims
“But as an adulteress, that bringeth in strangers over her husband.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
390
A.D.
Pacian of Barcelona Patristic
c. A.D. 310–390
“A heretical congregation is an adulterous woman; for the Catholic congregation from the very beginning never left the marriage couch and nuptial chamber of her spouse or ardently desired unsuitable and strange lovers. You have painted a banished form with new colors; you have withdrawn your marriage couch from a long-standing marriage; you have left the body of a mother, the wife of one husband, adorning yourselves with new techniques of pleasing, new allurements of seduction.”
Source
420
A.D.
Jerome Patristic
c. A.D. 347–420
“When all fornicating women are accustomed to receive pay from their lovers, Jerusalem does the opposite, so that she may give more than she receives and so that she may show the abundance of her price; she burdened them, in order that they might come to her in a roundabout way, in case there was anyone near her who was not tainted by disgrace.”
Source
420
A.D.
Jerome Patristic
c. A.D. 347–420
“(Verse 32 and following) But like an adulterous woman, who brings in strangers over her husband. All prostitutes receive payment: but you have given payment to all your lovers, and you would give them anything to come in to you from every direction to fornicate with you. And it happened in you contrary to the custom of women in your fornications, and there will be no fornication after you. For in that you have given payment, and have not received payment: it has become contrary to you. LXX: The adulterous woman − similar to you: receiving rewards from her husband: she gave rewards to all who fornicated with her, and you gave rewards to all your lovers, and you burdened them to come to you, going around in your fornication. And it happened in you that you turned against other women in your fornication, and they did not fornicate after you: because you gave rewards, and rewards were not given to you: and it happened in you that you turned against. What is written in the Septuagint is not found in Hebrew and disrupts the order of the reading, and it raises a significant question: which woman is being referred to when it is said that Jerusalem herself is an adulterous woman? So Jerusalem took all the abundance of things that had been given to her by the generosity of her husband, and she gave them to others, namely demons and idols, according to what is written in Hosea: 'And she did not know that I gave her grain, wine, oil, and multiplied her silver; but she made Baals, silver and gold' (Hosea 2:8). Therefore, in his anger, he immediately declares: 'Therefore, I will take back my grain in its time and my wine in its season; and I will take away my wool and my linen, so as not to cover her disgrace anymore. And now I will uncover her immorality in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my hand.' And while all women usually receive payment from their lovers, Jerusalem did the opposite, giving more than she received. And to show the extent of her generosity, she would burden them, saying, 'Come to me often,' so that there would be no neighbor who would not be mixed up in her dishonor. And indeed, Jerusalem surpassed other prostitutes in this as well, not only giving what she had earned through the shameful practice, but also giving marital gifts to her lovers and her adulterers. So great was the example of the adulteress in all its magnitude of shame, that it is preferred not only to those present, but also to future prostitutes. Hence, we have interpreted it according to Symmachus: 'And after you there shall be no more fornication.' For by comparing yourself, all subsequent fornication will be considered less serious. Whatever we have said about Jerusalem, it applies to the Church and the souls of the believers, who give their lovers the gifts of marriage, namely gold in a metaphorical sense, and silver in speech, and clothing, with which our filthiness and shame are concealed; or to contrary strengths, or to masters of perverse doctrines, when they assert that vice does no harm, and that passive lust, according to the genital parts of the body, demands sexual intercourse by natural law: all foods must be used indiscriminately, created for this purpose, to be consumed. Prudence in that only necessary, that it benefits oneself; and justice does not have a place, which if it prevails, one must beg, and other such things. Jerusalem, miserable when receiving these things, in which the vision of peace should be, perverts the sharpness of intellect and the charm of eloquence into ugliness. And for her lovers, she adorned herself against her husband with these ornaments, in which she was adorned by a man for the abuse of good. And what follows: And you gave them that they may enter to fornicate with you from all sides, signifies all types of sins, so that she is not satisfied with just one sin, but endures a hunger for sinning, and is defiled against the laws of nature with all shameful parts up to her head.”
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.