The interpretation timeline

Ps 56:2

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Patristic · 1 Jewish

Ps 56:2 · Douay-Rheims

“Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me: for my soul trusteth in thee. And in the shadow of thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass away.”

Patristic before A.D. 750

430

A.D.

Augustine of Hippo Patristic

A.D. 354–430

“"I will cry to God most high" [Psalm 57:2]. If most high He is, how heareth He thee crying? Confidence hath been engendered by experience: "to God," he saith, "who had done good to me." If before that I was seeking Him, He did good to me, when I cry shall He not hearken to me? For good to us the Lord God hath done in sending to us our Saviour Jesus Christ, that He might die for our offences, and rise again for our justification. For what sort of men hath He willed His Son to die? For ungodly men. But ungodly men were not seeking God, and have been sought of God. For He is Most High in such sort, as that not far from Him is our misery and our groaning: because "near is the Lord to them that have bruised the heart." "God that hath done good to me."”

Source

675 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet

Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500

1105

A.D.

Rashi Jewish

1040–1105

“Be gracious to me, etc., be gracious to me that I should neither kill nor be killed. until the destruction passes Heb. הוות, until the evil passes.”

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.