Theodoret of Cyrus, on Isa 45:9

“Woe to him that gainsayeth his maker, a sherd of the earthen pots: shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it: What art thou making, and thy work is without hands?”

“Just as the potter models anew the vase of broken clay, [God] says, for my part, I will make you better than at first. "Will the plowman plow the earth all day?" This comes back to saying it is not effective to use chastisement continually, for the cultivator does not keep tearing up the soil without ceasing. "Woe to him who disputes with the One who formed him!" "Shall the clay say to the potter, What are you doing that you do not work, nor have hands? Shall the thing formed answer him that formed it?" Since there were many in that epoch, and now likewise, who concern themselves ill-advisedly with divine providence and who attempt to study inquisitively the cause for the occurrence of wars, of periods of sterility of the soil, of premature deaths and of all the things of this nature, it is understandable that he should first of all deplore those who demand an accounting from the Creator of the universe. He, then, has skillfully closed their mouth by the image of the clay and the potter: the clay does not demand an accounting from the one who worked it regarding his rest or his work. In the same way is it no more fitting to occupy yourself rudely with divine matters, for you are precisely the clay. But there is between me and the potter the greatest difference there could be: the potter, though he is the creator of the utensil of clay, is nevertheless, on his part, the firstborn of the clay, whereas I possess an uncreated nature. Yet the clay does not say a word but supports the modeling that the potter wishes to impose on it, while you pay no attention to my providence.”

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