Rashi
Jewish
1040–1105
“Behold, today we are slaves upon it [the land], for we pay tribute to all the nations.”
The interpretation timeline
Neh 9:36
How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.
From the early Church Fathers to now.
1 Jewish · 2 Reformed · 1 Methodist · 1 Catholic
Neh 9:36 · Douay-Rheims
“Behold we ourselves this day are bondmen: and the land, which thou gavest our fathers, to eat the bread thereof, and the good things thereof, and we ourselves are servants in it.”
Scholastic
c. 1100 – 1500
1105
A.D.
666 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Post-Reformation
c. 1650 – 1900
1771
A.D.
John Gill
Reformed
1697–1771
“Behold, we are servants this day,.... For though they had leave to return to their land, and rebuild their city and temple, yet they were still in subjection to the kings of Persia: and for the land thou gavest unto our fathers, to eat the fruit thereof, and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it; though the rightful owners and proprietors of it by the gift of God to their ancestors, to hold it and enjoy the good of it, and yet were obliged to pay tribute for it to the kings of Persia, all excepting priests and Levites; see Ezr 6:8.”
1832
A.D.
Adam Clarke
Methodist
1762–1832
“Behold, we are servants - They had no king of their own: and were under the government of the kings of Persia, to whom they paid a regular tribute.”
1849
A.D.
George Leo Haydock
Catholic
1774–1849
“In it. Tributary to Persia, chap. v. 4., and 1 Esdras vii. 24., and ix. 9. (Calmet)”
1871
A.D.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Reformed
1871
“Behold, we are servants this day--Notwithstanding their happy restoration to their native land, they were still tributaries of a foreign prince whose officers ruled them. They were not, like their fathers, free tenants of the land which God gave them.”
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.