The interpretation timeline
Psalm 144:8 Douay-Rheims

The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy.

A.D. 430 – 1875 6 witnesses

Patristic

before A.D. 750
430
A.D.
Augustine of Hippo Patristic
A.D. 354–430
“"Merciful and pitiful is the Lord; long-suffering, and very merciful" (ver. 8). Were He not such as this, there would be no seeking to recover us. Consider thyself: what didst thou deserve, O sinner? Despiser of God, what didst thou deserve? See if aught occur to thee but penalty, if aught occur to thee but punishment. Thou seest then what was due to thee, and what He hath given, who gave gratis. There was given pardon to the sinner; there was given the spirit of justification; there was given charity and love, wherein thou mayest do all good works; and beyond this, He will give thee also life everlasting, and fellowship with the angels: all of His mercy.”
Source

Scholastic

c. 1100 – 1500
1235
A.D.
Radak Jewish
c. 1160–1235
“Gracious and compassionate: These are the attributes by which He expresses His goodness and righteousness. They shall utter and sing of Him, for He is gracious, granting favor to creatures and providing for their needs, and compassionate, showing mercy and pity towards them, protecting them from harm and the world's afflictions. Slow to anger: He delays His anger towards the wicked and does not punish them immediately. And of abundant love: The "dalet" with a "kamatz" and a "chet" with a "patach" imply that His love is abundant, enlarging His kindness towards human beings more than they deserve. [Adonai] is good to all. He is good and merciful even to wild animals, domesticated animals, and fowl. And so it is fitting for a person to follow these ways of His. One should not destroy life other than for a need or to guard oneself from dangers. So we find that our Holy Master (Rabbi Judah the Prince, editor of the Mishnah) bade his handmaiden not to sweep up mice with household embers. Rather, she should let them live in the cellar. He said to her, "It is written, 'His mercy is upon all His works.'"”
Source

Post-Reformation

c. 1650 – 1900
1771
A.D.
John Gill Reformed
1697–1771
“The Lord is gracious,.... These are the epithets of our Lord Jesus Christ, and may be truly and with great propriety said of him; he is "gracious", kind, and good, in the instances before mentioned; he is full of grace, and readily distributes it; his words are words of grace; his Gospel, and the doctrines of it, are doctrines of grace; his works are works of grace, all flowing from his wondrous grace and mercy: and full of compassion: or "merciful" (d), in the most tender manner; hence he came into the world to save sinners, and in his pity redeemed them; and when on earth showed his compassion both to the bodies and souls of men, by healing the one and instructing the other; and particularly had compassion on the ignorant, and them that were out of the way; pitying those that were as sheep without a shepherd, as the blind Jews under their blind guides were; and is very compassionate to his people under all their temptations, afflictions, trials, and exercises; see Heb 2:17; slow to anger; to the wicked Jews, though often provoked by their calumnies and reproaches, and by their ill behaviour to him in various instances; yet we never read but once of his being angry, and that was through grief at the hardness of their hearts, Mar 3:5; and likewise to his own disciples, who were often froward and perverse, and of bad spirits, very troublesome and afflictive to him, yet he patiently bore with them: and of great mercy; a merciful High Priest, typified by the mercy seat, where we may find grace and mercy at all times; through whom God is merciful to sinners, and to whose mercy we are to look for eternal life. (d) "misericors", V. L. Tigurine version, Musculus, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis.”
Source
1849
A.D.
1774–1849
“Patient. Hebrew, “slow to anger,” which is more expressive. (Berthier)”
1871
A.D.
1875
A.D.
Keil & Delitzsch Lutheran
1861–1875
“This memorable utterance of Jahve concerning Himself the writer of Ps 103, which is of kindred import, also interweaves into his celebration of the revelation of divine love in Psa 145:8. Instead of רב־חסד the expression here, however, is וגדול חסד (Kerמ, as in Nah 1:3, cf. Psa 89:29, with Makkeph וּגדל־). The real will of God tends towards favour, which gladly giving stoops to give (חנּוּן), and towards compassion, which interests itself on behalf of the sinner for his help and comfort (רחוּם). Wrath is only the background of His nature, which He reluctantly and only after long waiting (ארך אפּים) lets loose against those who spurn His great mercy. For His goodness embraces, as Psa 145:9 says, all; His tender mercies are over all His works, they hover over and encompass all His creatures. Therefore, too, all His works praise Him: they are all together loud-speaking witnesses of that sympathetic all-embracing love of His, which excludes no one who does not exclude himself; and His saints, who live in God's love, bless Him (יברכוּכה written as in Kg1 18:44): their mouth overflows with the declaration (יאמרוּ) of the glory of the kingdom of this loving God, and in speaking (ידבּרוּ) of the sovereign power with which He maintains and extends this kingdom. This confession they make their employ, in order that the knowledge of the mighty acts of God and the glorious majesty of His kingdom may at length become the general possession of mankind. When the poet in Psa 145:12 sets forth the purpose of the proclamation, he drops the form of address. God's kingdom is a kingdom of all aeons, and His dominion is manifested without exception and continually in all periods or generations (בּכל־דּור ודר as in Ps 45:18, Est 9:28, a pleonastic strengthening of the expression בּדר ודר, Psa 90:1). It is the eternal circumference of the history of time, but at the same time its eternal substance, which more and more unfolds and achieves itself in the succession of the periods that mark its course. For that all things in heaven and on earth shall be gathered up together (ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι, Eph 1:10) in the all-embracing kingdom of God in His Christ, is the goal of all history, and therefore the substance of history which is working itself out. With Psa 145:13 (cf. Dan. 3:33, Dan 4:31, according to Hitzig the primary passages) another paragraph is brought to a close.”
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.