This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not.

“If a man seems more comely to look upon than clay, this difference was not produced by a change of nature but by the wisdom of the craftsman. Why? Because you are no different from the clay. If you refuse to believe this, let the coffins and the cinerary urn convince you. And you will know that this is the truth if you have gone to visit the tombs of your forebearers. Therefore there is no difference between the clay and the potter.”

“Scripture says to Pharaoh, "To this purpose have I raised you that I may show my power in you; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." Then, making a conclusion to both passages, he says, "Therefore he has mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardens." Obviously he treats neither of these with injustice but both with mercy and truth; in spite of that there is an uprising of insolent weakness on the part of those who attempt to comprehend the unsearchable depth of the judgment of God according to the interpretations of the human heart. The apostle refutes this view when he says, "You will say therefore to me: Why does he then find fault? For who resists his will?" Let us imagine this as said to us. What other answer should we make than the one he made? If such ideas disturb us also because we, too, are human, we all have need to listen to the apostle saying, "O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: Why have you made me thus? Or has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, another unto dishonor?" If this lump of clay were of such indifferent value that it deserved nothing good any more than it deserved anything evil, there would be reason to see injustice in making of it a vessel unto dishonor. But when, through the free will of the first man alone, condemnation extended to the whole lump of clay, undoubtedly if vessels are made of it unto honor, it is not a question of justice not forestalling grace, but of God's mercy. If, however, vessels are made of it unto dishonor, it is to be attributed to the judgment of God, not to his injustice—far be from us the thought that there could be any such with God! Whoever is wise in this matter with the Catholic church does not argue against grace in favor of merit, but he sings mercy and judgment to the Lord, that he may not ungratefully deny his mercy or unjustly upbraid his judgment.”

“Shall your perversion be regarded like the potter’s clay (Heb. הָפְכְּכֶם) Your perversions. Do you know this, that it is like the potter’s clay? Just as the clay cannot say of its maker, “He did not make me,” so you cannot say that I do not understand your deeds. Shall...like the potter’s clay, etc. This is an expression of a question, but there are questions to be answered in the affirmative. of him who made it (לְעֹשֵׂהוּ, lit. to him who made it.) Like עַל עֹשֵׂהוּ. Comp. (Ex. 14:3) “And Pharaoh shall say of the children of Israel (וְלִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל).” (Jud. 9:54) “Lest they say of me (לִי), ‘A woman killed him.’” and the impulse say concerning the One Who formed it, “He does not understand”? Did he say concerning the One Who formed it, “He does not understand what is in my impulse”? Did He not build the hidden recesses, the inner chambers, and the thoughts?”

“Woe, Ariel. In this part he sets forth a threat against the people, or against the city; and it is divided into two parts. In the first he threatens the punishment of temporal destruction; in the second, the punishment of spiritual blindness, Be astonished. Concerning the first, two things. In the first he threatens destruction; in the second he sets forth some sort of consolation, and it shall be as a dream. The first into two. In the first, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. In the second, by the Romans, and I will encompass. Concerning the first, three things. First he recalls its former dignity. Ariel, that is, lion of God, because by the power of God, in the times of David and Solomon, it feared no one, just as a lion does not either. Proverbs 30: a lion, strongest of beasts, will tremble at the meeting of no one. Or on account of the altar of holocausts, which was there, which consumed animals as a lion does. And so as it is taken in Ezekiel 43: or perhaps on account of its shape, because it was situated after the manner of a lion. He conquered. 1 Kings 17: for I conquered the lion and the bear. Second he sets forth the destruction, positing three things: the cessation of feasts, add, as if to say, for many years. Have rolled around, that is, have perished. Hosea 3: they shall sit many days without sacrifice and without ephod. Siege, and I will encircle with a rampart, namely by the Chaldeans. Ezekiel 4: it shall be in a state of siege; and he hints at the conquest arising from sorrow, and she shall be sorrowful. Lamentations 1: many are her groans, etc. Third he sets forth the restoration made under Jesus the high priest and others, concerning whom the whole of Esdras treats. And it shall be to me; as if to say: retaining only a shadow of its former dignity. But on the contrary: Haggai 2: great is the glory of this latter house, more than of the former. And it must be said that this is said on account of the fact that it was visited by the Son of God himself, even bodily. And I will encompass. Here he threatens destruction by the Romans; and concerning this he sets forth four things. First, the siege, and I will encompass as a sphere, that is, round about. Luke 19: your enemies shall encompass you with a rampart. Habakkuk 1: he shall laugh at every fortification, and shall heap up a mound. Second, the humiliation of the besieged, you shall be humbled; and the sign of the humiliation: you shall speak out of the earth, that is, just as if you were under the earth, you shall even be heard speaking lowly, bearing the words of a python-spirit, who used to chant incantations silently. Zephaniah 3: I will take away out of your midst the evil-speakers of your pride. Or the merit of the humiliation, reproving in them the sin of avarice, you shall speak out of the earth; and of idolatry, and it shall be as of a python-spirit. Third he sets forth the multitude of enemies, and it shall be as dust: Joel 1: a nation has come up; or the destruction of the enemies, as above, 17: it shall be carried off like the dust of the mountains before the face of the wind. Fourth he sets forth the destruction itself, and it shall be suddenly: metaphorically, on account of the ferocity of the enemies. Jeremiah 4: he shall come up as a cloud, and as a tempest: his chariots are swifter than eagles. And it shall be as a dream. Here he applies a certain consolation drawn from the punishment of the enemies, because, like a vain thing, they shall come to nothing, carrying back no advantage from the destruction of Judea, just as neither does one who is hungry or thirsty gain anything from food or drink dreamed of. Ecclesiasticus 34: vain hope and a lie are to a senseless man, and dreams lift up the imprudent. Zechariah 12: I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden to all peoples. Note on that word, and it shall be as a dream, that a thing is called a dream, first, on account of vanity. Ecclesiasticus 34: the vision of dreams is according to this; second, on account of brevity. Job 20: like a dream flying up he shall not be found. Third, on account of the obscurity of its knowing. Job 33: through a dream, in a vision of the night. Fourth, on account of the perversity of the soul. Below, 56: sleeping, and loving dreams. Be astonished, here he threatens the punishment of blindness: and first he foretells the blindness of the Jews; second, the conversion of the Gentiles, is it not yet. Concerning the first, two things. First he sets forth the blindness; second he assigns its reason, and the Lord said. Concerning the first, three things. First he foretells the blindness, setting forth those things which disturb the judgment of reason: be astonished, from the consideration of the evils of fault or of punishment. Jeremiah 2: be astonished, O heavens, at this, and, O gates of heaven, be very desolate. And wonder, from the consideration of great things. Psalm 138: wonderful are your works. Waver, from the uncertainty of things to be chosen. James 1: for he who hesitates is like the wind; be shaken, from the inconstancy of purposes. Job 4: your hands have strengthened the staggering. Be drunk, from the anxiety of sorrows. Habakkuk 2: drink also, you, and be fast asleep; the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall come round about you. Second he sets forth the manner of the blindness, for he has mingled; that is, as mingled wine he has given to drink, your eyes, namely the prophets. Above, 19: the Lord has mingled in its midst a spirit of dizziness. Third he sets forth the effect of the blindness, because the book of sacred Scripture and the visions of all the prophets they shall not understand. And it shall be to you. Apocalypse 5: I saw in the right hand of him who sat a book. And the Lord said. Here he sets forth the cause of the blindness, namely their own sin: first as to the affections; second as to the intellect, woe to those who are deep. Concerning the first he sets forth two things. First the fault of contempt of God, but his heart, because they cloak it with words, with lips, with human observances. And they feared. Jeremiah 12: you are near to their mouth, and far from their reins. Matthew 15: you have made void the commandment of God for the sake of your traditions. Second, the punishment, therefore behold I, great, according to their own reputation, or formerly. Obadiah: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject: 1 Corinthians 1. Woe to those who are deep. Here he sets forth the sin on the part of the intellect, because they did not believe in the providence of God, that he would know the things that are done concerning us: and concerning this he does two things. First the devising of the error is set forth. Now they said that they escaped God's notice, on account of the depth of the heart, where they turned over their wicked counsels: hence he says, who are deep, Jeremiah 17: the heart of man is deep and unsearchable; who shall know it? And on account of the obscurity of the places in which they carried out their wicked works: hence he says, whose are, John 3: everyone who does evil hates the light. Ecclesiasticus 16: do not say, I shall be hidden from God. Second the just rebuke is set forth, it is perverse. You have not made it, because God knows insofar as he is the cause of the thing. Below, 45: woe to him that contradicts his maker. Below, 64: and now, O Lord, you are our father, but we are clay; and you our fashioner, and we are all the works of your hands. Is it not. Here he foretells the conversion of the Gentiles: and concerning this he does three things. First he foretells the conversion to grace. Lebanon, the Gentiles, because it was a mountain in the land of the Gentiles; into Carmel, into the grace which the Jews had through circumcision, because it is interpreted knowledge of circumcision. Into a forest, that is, into the barrenness in which the Gentiles previously were. Below, 32, the same is found. To sacred knowledge, the deaf, namely the Gentiles, who previously had not heard the words of the law. Matthew 2: the blind see. John 9: I have come into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. To spiritual gladness, and they shall add. Psalm 9: I will be glad and exult in you, I will sing to your name, O Most High. Second he assigns the occasion, or reason, of the conversion, from the fall of the Devil: for he has failed who prevailed, through power; the mocker, the deceiver through cunning. Above, 16: the wretch is consumed, from the blindness of the Jewish people: because blindness in part has come upon Israel: Romans 11. Cut down are those who watched: eagerness toward evil. Proverbs 4: for they do not sleep, unless they have done evil. Who to sin, by wicked examples and teachings. Him that reproved, as to the contempt of discipline. Amos 5: they have hated him that reproves in the gate. They have turned aside, as to the vanity of sin, because that which does not attain its end is in vain. Wisdom 5: what has pride profited us, or what has the boasting of riches conferred upon us? Third he sets forth the return of the Jews at the end of the world, therefore thus says; who redeemed, Genesis 11. Not now, that is, in this time, shall he be confounded, with a good confusion. Ecclesiasticus 4: there is a confusion that brings glory; sons, the apostles, murmurers, that is, those who formerly murmured. Above, 27: they that shall go forth with impetus from Jacob, and Israel shall blossom and bud. Or it can be expounded otherwise, of the prosperity which is promised to them once Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar has been destroyed. Carmel into a forest; that is, so great shall be the fertility of the land of promise, that the fertility of Carmel shall be reckoned barrenness in comparison to it. The mocker, Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar. His sons, the three youths in the furnace of fire: or because their own children shall render the praise of my name, which they themselves did not render in their youth.”

“Surely your turning of things upside down,.... Revolving things in their minds, throwing them into different shapes, forming various schemes, and inverting the order of things by their deep counsels, and seeking to hide things from the Lord: or, "O the perverseness of you" (z); in imagining and saying that no eye saw, nor anyone knew, what they did, not the Lord himself. So the Vulgate Latin version, "this is your perverse thought"; namely, what is before related. The Targum is, "do you seek to pervert your works?'' Our version joins it with what follows; though a stop should be made here, because of the accent: shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: their perverse counsels and designs shall be made of no more account with God, and be as easily turned about and brought to nought, as the clay can be formed, and shaped, and marred by the potter, at his pleasure: "if" or "surely as the potter's clay shall it be esteemed", as the words may be rendered; or it may refer to their persons, as well as their counsels. So the Septuagint version, "shall ye not be reckoned as the potter's clay?" ye shall. To which agrees the Targum, "behold, as the clay in the hand of the potter, so are ye accounted before me;'' who could do with them just as seemed good in his sight. De Dieu renders them, "shall the potter be reckoned as the clay?" Such was the stupidity and perverseness of the Jews, in endeavouring to hide their counsels from the Lord, and in fancying that he did not see and know them, that they thought God was like themselves; which is all one as if the potter was reckoned as the clay, for they were the clay, and God the potter. The Vulgate Latin version is, "as if the clay could think against the potter"; contrive schemes to counterwork him; which, to imagine, was not more stupid, than to think they could do anything against the Lord: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? to say that God does not know what is done by his creatures, is in effect to say that he did not make them; for he that made them must needs know their actions, and even the very thoughts of their hearts; as he that makes a watch knows all that is in it, and the motions of it: or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? or judgment, did not know how to make it as it should be. So the Septuagint version, "thou hast not made me wisely"; or he did not understand the work itself, the make and fashion of it. So the Targum, "thou does not understand me.'' This might as well be said, as for a creature to pretend that God does not know what and where he is, or what he is doing. (z) So some in Gataker; "subversio vestra", Pagninus, Montanus.”