The interpretation timeline

Prov 16:15

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Prov 16:15 · Douay-Rheims
“In the cheerfulness of the king’s countenance is life: and his clemency is like the latter rain.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
735
A.D.
Bede Patristic
A.D. 673–735
“In the cheerfulness of the face is the life of the king. Whoever deserves to see the cheerful face of Christ, will be given to live with Him forever. Otherwise, on the day of judgment, as it is written, Every flesh will see the salvation of God. But then the reprobate will see Him angry, the just will see Him placid.”
735
A.D.
Bede Patristic
A.D. 673–735
“And mercy is like the late rain. The late rain in Judea until this day is accustomed to come to the already mature crops; where the Lord also promises the early rain, saying through the prophet, I will give you the early and the latter rain for your land (Isaiah XXX). Therefore, the early rain is, or is called temporary elsewhere when we first receive the seeds of believing in Christ; but the late rain, when, taken from this life with the mature fruits of virtues, we are stored in the Lord's barn. And rightly the mercy of the king is compared to the late rain because the fruit of life which we receive by acting well is not achieved by the freedom of our will, but by the irrigation of the heavenly gift.”
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.