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The interpretation timeline

Wis 16:17

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Wis 16:17 · Douay-Rheims
“And which was wonderful, in water, which extinguisheth all things, the fire had more force: for the world fighteth for the just.”
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1274
A.D.
Bonaventure Medieval
c. A.D. 1221–1274
“I rightly said: by fire with hailstones: for what was wonderful: namely, that a contrary was not destroyed by its contrary, although it is written in Sirach 3: "Water extinguishes a burning fire"; whence it follows: In water, which extinguishes all things, namely things set ablaze, fire prevailed the more, that is, it acted more powerfully together with water. For the whole world is an avenger, that is, an instrument of vengeance: an avenger, I say, the whole world of the just, that is, avenging the just: whence above in chapter 5: "The whole world shall fight for him against the senseless." Through the aforesaid text he indicates that the punishment of the Egyptians was carried out not according to the order of nature, but according to the order of divine justice avenging the Israelites against the Egyptians, who had oppressed them, Exodus 1; the Gloss: "It is not surprising that hail and fire are carried mingled together, because all things consent to the will of the Creator."”
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.