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The interpretation timeline

Jdt 16:21

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Jdt 16:21 · Douay-Rheims
“For he will give fire, and worms into their flesh, that they may burn, and may feel for ever.”
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1849
A.D.
George Leo Haydock Catholic
1774–1849
“Flesh, which is thus punished for ever, (St. Augustine, City of God xxv. 4.) while the soul is still more tormented with the loss of God’s vision. (Worthington) — The bodies of those who persecute God’s people, will not only be thrown out with ignominy, but the impenitent shall suffer eternal torments. These worms and fires do not cease. They are not merely figurative, but real, according to the Fathers. (Serarius, q. 1.) (Tirinus) (Essais de Mor.) — Though the damned have not yet their bodies, they are no less affected with pain; as people who have lost a member, often seem to feel pain in it. That our soul should even now suffer, when the body is hurt, depends on God’s appointment. The Jews spoke of eternal torments in similar terms, Ecclesiasticus vii. 19., Isaias lxvi. 24., and Mark ix. 45.”
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.