The interpretation timeline

Prov 8:27

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

3 Patristic · 1 Jewish · 2 Reformed · 1 Lutheran

Prov 8:27 · Douay-Rheims
“When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths:”
Patristic before A.D. 750
397
A.D.
Ambrose of Milan Patristic
A.D. 339–397
“Learn also that the Father was with him, and he with the Father, when all things were being made. Wisdom says, "When he was preparing the heavens I was with him, when he was making the fountains of waters." And in the Old Testament the Father … showed that the Son was to be worshiped with himself as the maker of all things. As, then, those things are said to have been created in the Son, of which the Son is received as the Creator, so too when God is said to be worshiped in truth by the proper meaning of the word itself often expressed after the same manner it ought to be understood, that the Son too is worshiped. So in like manner is the Spirit also worshiped because God is worshiped in Spirit. Therefore the Father is worshiped both with the Son and with the Spirit, because the Trinity is worshiped.”
Source
413
A.D.
Prudentius Patristic
c. A.D. 348–413
“This Wisdom uttered made the sky, The sky and light and all besides; All by the Word's almighty power Were fashioned, for the Word was God.”
523
A.D.
c. A.D. 450–523
“For in the beginning when He created the world and all that therein is, and when He was establishing things, wisdom worked with Him, even as Solomon saith, "The Lord by His wisdom laid the foundations of the earth, and He constructed the heavens by His understanding; and by His knowledge were the depths broken up, and the clouds distilled water." And again wisdom saith, "When He constructed the heaven I was with Him, and when He made a circle upon the face of the deep, and when He made firm the clouds from above, and when the fountains of the depths became strong." Now wisdom was with God in His primaeval works, but in this second creation faith is with Him; and in this second giving of birth He hath taken to Himself faith as a helpmeet. In everything faith cleaveth to God, and without it to-day He worketh no new things. It were an easy thing for Him to give thee birth from water and spirit without it, but until it is satisfied He doth not give thee new birth. He is able to make thee a new creature, and from being old to make thee new, but until He receiveth from thee faith as a pledge He neither changeth thee nor maketh thee a new creature.”
Source
582 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1105
A.D.
Rashi Jewish
1040–1105
“when He drew a circle over the face of the deep When He drew the circle of the earth over the water, to draw a boundary that it may not pass. חוג is an expression of encircling, as in (Isa. 44: 13): “and with a compass (ובמחוגה) he rounds it.” (Compas in French, zirkel in German, as in Gen. 29: 17, Isa. 5:22, 44:13, and Job 22: 14.)”
Source
666 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1771
A.D.
John Gill Reformed
1697–1771
“When he prepared the heavens, I was there,.... Made, beautified, and adorned them; when he gave them their form, figure, magnitude, and motion; when he garnished them with the sun, moon, and stars; then was Christ present, not as a mere spectator, but as a co-worker; see Heb 1:10; and even the third heaven, the place and state of glorified saints, prepared for them from the foundation of the world, Mat 25:34; when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: or "compassed the waters with bounds", as Job says, Pro 26:10; or made the earth with the sea globular, which make one terraqueous globe: or "made a circle" (p); all around it, called the circle of the earth, on which he sits, Isa 40:22; this compass may design the vast expanse or firmament of heaven, which is stretched and drawn around the terraqueous globe as a canopy or curtain. Christ was with his Father on the first day's creation of the heavens; and on the second day, when the firmament was made, and was before them both. (p) "describendo circulum", Montanus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Michaelis, Schultens.”
Source
1871
A.D.
1871
“when he set . . . depth--marked out the circle, according to the popular idea of the earth, as circular, surrounded by depths on which the visible concave heavens rested.”
1875
A.D.
Keil & Delitzsch Lutheran
1861–1875
“But not only did her existence precede the laying of the foundation of the world; she was also actively taking part in the creative work: "When He prepared the heavens, I was there, When He measured out a circle for the mirror of the multitude of waters." Again a sentence clothed with two designations of time. The adv. of place שׁם is used, chiefly poetically, for אז, eo tempore (Arab. thumm, in contradistinction to thamm, eo loco); but here it has the signification of place, which includes that of time: Wisdom was there when God created the world, and had then already long before that come into existence, like as the servant of Jahve, Isa 48:16, with just such a שׁם אני, says that He is there from the time that the history of nations received a new direction, beginning with Cyrus. הכין signifies to give a firm position or a definite direction. Thus Job 28:27 of Wisdom, whom the Creator places before Himself as a pattern (ideal); here, as Jer 10:12; Psa 65:7, of the setting up, restoring throughout the whole world. In the parallel member, חוּג, corresponding to שׁמים, appears necessarily to designate the circle or the vault of the heavens (Job 22:14), which, according to the idea of the Hebrews, as in Homer, rests as a half-globe on the outermost ends of the disc of the earth surrounded with water, and thus lies on the waters. Vid., Hupfeld under Psa 24:2. This idea of the ocean girdling the earth is introduced into the O.T. without its being sanctioned by it. The lxx (καὶ ὅτε ἀφώριζε τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θρόνον ἐπ ̓ ἀνέμων) appears to understand תהום of the waters above; but תהום never has this meaning, ים (Job 9:8; Job 36:30) might rather be interpreted of the ocean of the heavens. The passage in accordance with which this before us is to be expounded is Job 26:10 : He has set a limit for the surface of the waters, i.e., describing over them a circle setting bounds to their region. So here, with the exchange of the functions of the two words; when He marked out a circle over the surface of the multitude of waters, viz., to appoint a fixed region (מקוה, Gen 1:10) for them, i.e., the seas, fountains, rivers, in which the waters under the heavens spread over the earth. חקק signifies incidere, figere, to prescribe, to measure off, to consign, and directly to mark out, which is done by means of firm impressions of the graver's tools. But here this verb is without the Dagesh, to distinguish between the infinitive and the substantive חקּו (his statute or limit); for correct texts have בּחקו (Michlol 147a); and although a monosyllable follows, yet there is no throwing back of the tone, after the rule that words terminating in o in this case maintain their ultima accentuation (e.g., משׂמו אל, Num 24:23). Fleischer also finally decides for the explanation: quum delinearet circulum super abysso, when He marked out the region of the sea as with the circle.”
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.