The interpretation timeline

Wis 16:14

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Patristic · 2 Medieval

Wis 16:14 · Douay-Rheims
“A man indeed killeth through malice, and when the spirit is gone forth, it shall not return, neither shall he call back the soul that is received:”
Patristic before A.D. 750
407
A.D.
John Chrysostom Patristic
A.D. 347–407
“Man, through malice and wickedness, that is, by his own will and the effect of wrongful action, kills the soul. Therefore someone has said: no one can be harmed except by himself, because he is either the originator of his own crime or consents to the crimes of others. For if a man guards his mind and does not consent to evil persuasion, he is free from all guilt.”
Source
449 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Medieval c. 750 – 1100
856
A.D.
Rabanus Maurus Medieval
c. A.D. 780–856
“By the hatred of man the soul is slain, that is, by the wickedness of one's own will and the effect of evil deeds. Therefore someone has said: No one can be harmed except by himself, because he is either the inventor of his own crime, or the supporter and encourager of another's wickedness. For if a man guards his mind and does not consent to evil persuasion, he is free from all guilt.”
Source
418 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1274
A.D.
Bonaventure Medieval
c. A.D. 1221–1274
“But man etc., as if to say: thus you can put to death and give life: but, for "however": man can kill himself but not give life, and this is what it says: but man, namely the sinner, called man from the earth: indeed kills, that is, certainly, through the malice of sin, his own soul, on account of which it is said in the Psalm: "He who loves iniquity hates his own soul"; for he is a murderer of himself: for sin is a two-edged sword, for it kills both body and soul: Sirach twenty-one: "All iniquity is like a two-edged broadsword." And when the spirit has departed, namely from the body through death, it will not return, namely to the body in the present age; Job ten: "Before I go, and return not, to the land of darkness" etc.; likewise 2 Kings fourteen: "We all die, and like waters we flow down upon the earth, which do not return." But to the contrary: Because it is said in the Psalm: "His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return to his earth." It must be said that this is understood of the return to the earth of one's natural habitation and body by nature: but that Psalm passage [speaks] of the return to one's earth according to the justice of retribution, and this by divine power. Nor will he call back, namely man, the soul, separated from the body, which has been received, in its place, namely in glory or in punishment; Sirach eleven: "Wherever the tree falls, whether to the south or to the north, there it shall be."”
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.