The interpretation timeline

Jdt 3:1

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Jdt 3:1 · Douay-Rheims
“Then the kings and the princes of all the cities and provinces, of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Syria Sobal, and Libya, and Cilicia sent their ambassadors, who coming to Holofernes, said:”
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1849
A.D.
1774–1849
“Kings. Greek, “they sent to him ambassadors, with proposals for peace, saying: Behold we, the servants of Nabuchodonosor, the great king, lay before thee; use us as thou thinkest best,” &c. These proposals were made by those on the sea-coast, from Sidon and Tyre to Ascalon, from whom Holofernes took “the choicest men,” being received with honour, ver. 10. (Haydock) — Syria, &c. These are not specified in the Greek. — Sobal, or Soba, (1 Kings xiv. 47.) near Damascus, where Ptolemy (v.) places Samoulis. — Lybia seems too remote, and had not been attacked: some therefore would read Lycia, or Lygia, (Herodotus vii. 72.) or rather Lydia, (Calmet) which Holofernes had “cut in pieces,” according to the Greek, chap. ii. 13. (Haydock)”
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.