The interpretation timeline

Neh 4:21

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Neh 4:21 · Douay-Rheims
“And let us do the work: and let one half of us hold our spears from the rising of the morning, till the stars appear.”
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1771
A.D.
John Gill Reformed
1697–1771
“So we laboured in the work,.... Of building the wall: and half of them held the spears; and other weapons before mentioned, Neh 4:16 from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared; that is, from morning to evening, the space of time the builders and labourers worked.”
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.