The interpretation timeline

Sir 26:16

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Sir 26:16 · Douay-Rheims

“The grace of a diligent woman shall delight her husband, and shall fat his bones.”

Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500

1274

A.D.

Bonaventure Medieval

c. A.D. 1221–1274

“The third allegory, pointing to the Church, is indicated in Ecclesiasticus: "Like the sun rising in the Lord's heavens, the beauty of a virtuous wife is the radiance of her home." This wife or house is the Church: a wife, in that it is active; a house of God, in that it is contemplative. This woman is Martha who received Christ and was concerned with many things.”

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.