The interpretation timeline

Prov 12:16

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Prov 12:16 · Douay-Rheims

“A fool immediately sheweth his anger: but he that dissembleth injuries is wise.”

Patristic before A.D. 750

735

A.D.

Bede Patristic

A.D. 673–735

“The fool immediately shows his anger, etc. He who desires to avenge himself in the present is a fool; but he who disregards an injury for the sake of the Lord is wise. Another translation of this verse says, the fool immediately pronounces his anger, but the astute hides his shame. He does not decree that the shameful passion of anger should be so hidden by the wise, that while condemning its swiftness, he does not prevent its tardiness, which certainly, if it falls upon him due to the necessity of human weakness, he judged to be hidden so that while it is wisely covered for the present, it may be more wisely removed and deleted forever. For such is the nature of anger that, if delayed, it weakens and dies; but if revealed, it burns more and more.”

Source

Undated date unknown

Desert Fathers Patristic

c. A.D. 500

“The monks praised a brother to Antony. Antony went to him and tested him to see if he could endure being insulted. When he saw that he could not bear it, he said to him, 'You are like a house with a highly decorated outside, but burglars have stolen all the furniture by the back door.'”

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.