Thomas Aquinas

Here he shows their hardness, because they are not corrected by scourges. And first he marvels at the excuse: why do you wish to contend with me in judgment? Job 9: if he should wish to contend with him, he could not answer him one for a thousand. Second, he shows their incorrigibility as regards the scourges of the lesser ones: in vain have I struck your sons; and of the greater ones: your sword devoured, by enemies, by your own deserts, sent unto slaughter, your prophets, false ones, namely Baal's, and the soothsayers: and as regards all in common: like a devastating lion, thus it lays waste; or, like a devastating lion, thus it is laid waste: for against a lion all rise up; so too against a wolf. Below, 6: in vain has the smelter smelted, for their malice has not been consumed. Call them reprobate silver, because the Lord has cast them off.