Thomas Aquinas Commentary Jeremiah 2:29-30

"Wherefore will ye contend with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith Jehovah. In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion." — Jeremiah 2:29-30 (ASV)

Here, he shows their stubbornness, in that they are not corrected by discipline.

1. He is astonished at their excuse: Why do you wish to contend with me in judgment? As it is written, If one would wish to contend with him, he would not be able to answer him one time in a thousand (Job 9:3).

2. He shows how insensitive they are to lesser afflictions: In vain have I struck your children, and your elders. Your sword has swallowed up: by this he means the enemy, which they have justly deserved and has been sent to destroy them. Your prophets: that is, the false prophets of Baal and the soothsayers.

   And speaking of them all as a group, he says the enemy is like a wasting lion; it lays waste. Or, like a wasting lion, it is destroyed, since everyone rises up to kill a lion or a wolf.

   As it says below: In vain has the founder melted, for their wickedness is not consumed. Reprobate silver you shall call them, because the Lord has cast them off (Jeremiah 6:29–30).