Augustine of Hippo, on Ps 148:8

“Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds which fulfill his word:”

“There follows the seventh commandment: "You shall not steal," and the seventh plague: hail on the crops. What you steal from the commandment, you lose from your account in heaven. No one makes an unjust gain without suffering a just loss. For example, someone steals and acquires a suit, but by the judgment of heaven he forfeits trust. Where there is gain, there is loss; visible gain, invisible loss; gain from his own blindness, loss from the Lord's cloud. You see, dearly beloved, there is nothing that escapes providence. Or do you really think that what people suffer, they suffer while God is asleep? We see these things happening all the time and all around; clouds gather, rain comes down in buckets, hail is hurled down, the earth shaken by thunder, scared out of its wits by lightning. Everywhere these things are thought to happen as though they had nothing to do with divine providence. Against such ideas that psalm is on its guard: "Praise the Lord from the earth"—his praises had already been told from the heavens—"dragons and all deeps, fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds, which all carry out his word." So those who for their own evil desire steal outwardly are hailed on inwardly by the judgment of God.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.