The interpretation timeline

Wis 16:5

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

From the early Church Fathers to now.

Wis 16:5 · Douay-Rheims
“For when the fierce rage of beasts came upon these, they were destroyed with the bitings of crooked serpents.”
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1274
A.D.
Bonaventure Medieval
c. A.D. 1221–1274
“He says therefore: For indeed, as if to say: I have rightly said: but for these only to show etc.; for indeed, that is, because: when upon them, namely the children of Israel, there came the fierce wrath of beasts, namely from the displeasure of the heavenly Judge, whom they had offended by murmuring against him, as is clear from Numbers 21: "The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people." By the bites of perverse serpents, because they were effective for harming, they were being destroyed, namely some of them: whence 1 Corinthians 10: "Do not murmur, as some of them murmured and perished by serpents."”
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.