The interpretation timeline

Job 21:8

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Patristic · 1 Catholic

Patristic before A.D. 750
604
A.D.
Gregory the Great
c. A.D. 540–604
“Ver. 8. Their seed is established in their sight with them. 46. For the increase of exceeding happiness, together with a large patrimony, they have heirs too given them; and that no unavoidable temporal circumstance either may remove from their eyes those in whom their soul delights, it is said of this seed of theirs, Their seed is established in their sight. But what if children are vouchsafed, yet the children themselves stricken with barrenness? The family is made extinct in them, in like sort as it was feared it would be made extinct by the barrenness of their parents. It goes on; And a crowd of kinfolk and grandchildren before their eyes. Observe, life is theirs, honours and riches are theirs, children are theirs, grandchildren are theirs. What if any secret fancy gall the mind, and domestic discord pierce the joys of their security? What is the prosperity of this world, if it be not joyful?”
670 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1274
A.D.
Thomas Aquinas
1225–1274
“Also, against Sophar's statement, "His sons will be reduced to poverty," (20:10) he says, "Their seed endures in their presence," that is, their sons endure, with them looking on. He then says the same thing about other persons related to them saying, "the crowd of their neighbors and descendants endure in their sight." By this he shows a double prosperity, because those closest to him are not taken away in death, which is what he means when he says, "endures," nor are they removed far from him by exile or something of this sort, which is what he means when he says, "in their presence," and "in their sight."”
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.