The interpretation timeline

Prov 16:26

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Prov 16:26 · Douay-Rheims
“The soul of him that laboureth, laboureth for himself, because his mouth hath obliged him to it.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
735
A.D.
Bede Patristic
A.D. 673–735
“The soul of the laborer labors for itself, etc. It is evident, according to the letter, that man expelled from paradise exercises daily labor so that he may not lack. For he compelled his mouth, when he spoke with the serpent and touched the forbidden thing, to suffer long exile with labor and to eat bread by the sweat of his face. But also the teacher compels his mouth to labor, because he must practice the good things he says.”
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.