The interpretation timeline

Neh 4:22

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Reformed · 1 Methodist · 1 Catholic

Neh 4:22 · Douay-Rheims
“At that time also I said to the people: Let every one with his servant stay in the midst of Jerusalem, and let us take our turns in the night, and by day, to work.”
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1771
A.D.
John Gill Reformed
1697–1771
“Likewise at the same time said I unto the people,.... That were at work upon the wall: let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem; every builder had a servant, or a lad, as the word signifies, to wait upon him, to bring mortar or stone, or what he wanted; and some of these builders, with their lads, came out of the country towns and villages in the morning, and returned at night; now Nehemiah proposed, for the safety of the city and its walls, that for the present they would lodge in Jerusalem: that in the night they may be a guard unto us, and labour on the day; might help to protect them in the night, should they be surprised with the enemy, and be ready for their work in the daytime.”
Source
1832
A.D.
Adam Clarke Methodist
1762–1832
“Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem - The country people were accustomed, after their day's labor, to return to their families; now being so formidably threatened, he obliged them all to sleep in Jerusalem, that they might be ready, in case of attack, to help their brethren. All this man's arrangements were wise and judicious.”
Source
1849
A.D.
1774–1849
“Midst. Before they had gone home. (Calmet) — Let us. Protestants, “that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day.” (Haydock)”
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.