The interpretation timeline

Job 39:11

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Patristic · 1 Catholic

Job 39:11 · Douay-Rheims
“Wilt thou have confidence in his great strength, and leave thy labours to him?”
Patristic before A.D. 750
604
A.D.
Gregory the Great Patristic
c. A.D. 540–604
“Wilt thou have confidence in his great strength, and wilt thou leave to him thy labours? 8. The Lord asserts that He has confidence in the strength of the rhinoceros; because He inclined the powers, which He had conferred for a temporal purpose on an earthly prince, to minister to His reverence, in order that by the power he had received, through which he had, heretofore, been puffed up against God, he might now bestow on God religious obedience. For the more powerful he is toward the world, the more does he prevail for the Creator of the world. For because he is himself dreaded by his subjects, he persuades them the more readily, the more he points out with his power, Who is truly to be feared. Let it be said then; Wilt thou have confidence in his great strength? As if it were said, As I, Who see, that the powers of earthly princes are about to submit to My worship. For I regard those things which thou art now doing, as of so much the less consequence, the more I now foresee, that I shall bend down to Myself even the greater powers of this world. But it is well subjoined; And wilt thou leave to him thy labours? For the Lord left His labours to this rhinoceros, because He entrusted to an earthly prince, on his conversion, that Church which He purchased by His own death, because, namely, He committed to his hand the great anxiety of preserving the peace of the faith.”
Source
670 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1274
A.D.
Thomas Aquinas Catholic
1225–1274
“Some strong animals are set free to guard the fields against thieves or animals which can devastate the standing grain, as fields are guarded in this way by ferocious dogs, but this cannot be done with the rhinoceros, because he is not domesticated, and so he says, "Will you put your confidence in his great strength and will you leave your labors to him?", i.e., to guard the fruits of the fields. So you cannot use this very strong animal, either like the ox for plowing, or like the dog as a guard.”
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.