The interpretation timeline

Isa 55:9

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Patristic · 2 Jewish

Isa 55:9 · Douay-Rheims
“For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
413
A.D.
Prudentius Patristic
c. A.D. 348–413
“"If you would," he says, "Ascend to heaven, banish cares of earth. For far as earth is distant from the sky And heaven from the world below, so far Are your vain thoughts from my eternal thoughts, Ill from good, sin from virtue, dark from light. I counsel you to shun all passing things And deem as nought all to corruption prone, For it is destined to return to nought. All earth brings forth and holds, at dawn of time I made; I decked with splendid ornaments The shining world and formed the elements, But willed that the enjoyment be confined Within due bounds, as far as mortal frame And fleeting human life may have the need, Not that humanity, by unbridled passion ruled, Should reckon good alone things sweet and vain, Which I have preordained to pass with time.”
Source
692 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1105
A.D.
Rashi Jewish
1040–1105
“As the heavens are higher, etc. That is to say that there is a distinction and a difference, advantages and superiority in My ways more than your ways and in My thoughts more than your thoughts, as the heavens are higher than the earth; you are intent upon rebelling against Me, whereas I am intent upon bringing you back.”
Source
1167
A.D.
Ibn Ezra Jewish
1089–1167
“For as the heavens, etc., so are my ways higher, etc. This is a figurative expression.”
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.