The interpretation timeline

Prov 12:23

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Prov 12:23 · Douay-Rheims
“A cautious man concealeth knowledge: and the heart of fools publisheth folly.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
735
A.D.
Bede Patristic
A.D. 673–735
“A shrewd man conceals knowledge. Shrewd in this place is understood in a good sense, that is, wise and prudent, who sometimes conceals his knowledge out of prudence: for two reasons, either not being able to speak to weak listeners as to spiritual ones, but as to carnal ones, or being unwilling to give what is holy to the dogs, nor to cast pearls before swine.”
Source
735
A.D.
Bede Patristic
A.D. 673–735
“And the heart of fools proclaims foolishness. When they either desire to know more than they should, and leap to thinking that foolishness is wisdom; or certainly when trying to teach others who cannot yet understand, they provoke them to greater foolishness, and like forcing the sun's light on small eyes, they take away the little light they seemed to see.”
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.