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The interpretation timeline

Sir 29:7

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Sir 29:7 · Douay-Rheims
“And if he be able to pay, he will stand off, he will scarce pay one half, and will count it as if he had found it:”
Medieval c. 750 – 1100
856
A.D.
Rabanus Maurus Medieval
c. A.D. 780–856
“This statement refers to the attitude of those who do not desire to do evil with ill will but are reprehensible for the fact that they do not want to help others, out of fear of losing perishable things. To this sickness one must apply the remedy of mercy and charity and the recollection of that saying of the Lord that says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal. Rather, store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, where thieves do not break in and steal." And elsewhere one reads regarding riches what comes from the same charity, "To one who has will be given more, and he will have in abundance. But to one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."”
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.