The interpretation timeline

Num 14:18

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Num 14:18 · Douay-Rheims
“The Lord is patient and full of mercy, taking away iniquity and wickedness, and leaving no man clear, who visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
420
A.D.
Jerome Patristic
c. A.D. 347–420
“That is to say, God will not punish us at once for our thoughts and resolves but will send retribution upon their offspring, that is, upon the evil deeds and habits of sin which arise out of 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.