The interpretation timeline

Ps 96:5

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Patristic · 1 Jewish · 1 Catholic

Ps 96:5 · Douay-Rheims
“The mountains melted like wax, at the presence of the Lord: at the presence of the Lord of all the earth.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
430
A.D.
Augustine of Hippo Patristic
A.D. 354–430
“"The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord" [Psalm 97:5]. Who are the hills? The proud. Every high thing raising itself against God, at the deeds of Christ and of the Christians, trembled, yielded, and when I say, what has been already said, "melted," a better word cannot be found. "The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord." Where is the elevation of powers? Where the hardness of the unbelieving? The Lord was a fire unto them, they melted at His presence like wax; so long hard, until that fire was applied. Every height has been levelled; it dares not now blaspheme Christ: and though the Pagan believes not in Him, he blasphemes Him not; though not as yet become a living stone, yet the hard hill has been subdued. "At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth:" not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also, as the Apostle says; for He is not the God of the Jews alone, but of the Gentiles also. [Romans 3:29] He is therefore the Lord of the whole earth, the Lord Jesus Christ born in Judæa, but not born for Judæa alone, because before He was born He created all men; and He who created, also new created, all men.”
Source
675 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1105
A.D.
Rashi Jewish
1040–1105
“melted like wax Heb. כדונג, as it is written (Ezek. 38:20): “and the mountains will be thrown down, and the cliffs will fall.””
744 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1849
A.D.
1774–1849
“All. Which is conformable to the Hebrew, &c., though the Vulgate terra, means, “all the earth” melted. (Haydock)”
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.