2 Corinthians 4:7

World English Bible (2000)

But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ἔχομεν δὲ τὸν θησαυρὸν τοῦτον ἐν ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσιν, ἵνα ἡ ὑπερβολὴ τῆς δυνάμεως ᾖ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ μὴ ἐξ ἡμῶν.

Transliteration

Echomen de ton thēsauron touton en ostrakinois skeuesin, that the hyperbolē tēs dynameōs ē tou Theou, and not from us.

Grammar Details

• *Echomen*: present active indicative, 1st person plural - we have
• *de*: postpositive conjunction - but/and/now
• *thēsauron*: accusative masculine singular - treasure
• *touton*: demonstrative pronoun, accusative masculine singular - this
• *en*: preposition + dative - in
• *ostrakinois*: dative neuter plural adjective - earthen/clay
• *skeuesin*: dative neuter plural - vessels/containers
• *hyperbolē*: nominative feminine singular - excellence/surpassing greatness
• *dynameōs*: genitive feminine singular - power/might
• *ē*: present subjunctive, 3rd person singular - may be
• *tou Theou*: genitive masculine singular - of God
• *ex*: preposition + genitive - from/out of
• *hēmōn*: genitive, 1st person plural pronoun - of us

Word Meanings

• *thēsauron*: treasure/wealth/valuable thing
• *ostrakinois*: earthen/made of clay/fragile
• *skeuesin*: vessels/containers/jars
• *hyperbolē*: excellence/surpassing greatness/exceeding
• *dynameōs*: power/might/strength/ability

Referenced Verses

• 2 Cor 5:1 : 1 For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
• 2 Cor 3:5-6 : 5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; 6 who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
• Eph 2:8-9 : 8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, that no one would boast.
• Lam 4:2 : 2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
• 1 Cor 1:28 : 28 and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are:
• Col 2:3 : 3 in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
• 1 Thess 1:5 : 5 and that our Good News came to you not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we showed ourselves to be among you for your sake.
• Col 1:27 : 27 to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory;
• Eph 1:19-20 : 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might 20 which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,
• Eph 2:5 : 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
• 2 Cor 4:1 : 1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don't faint.
• 2 Cor 6:10 : 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
• 2 Cor 10:10 : 10 For, "His letters," they say, "are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is despised."
• 2 Cor 12:7-9 : 7 By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively. 8 Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
• 2 Cor 13:4 : 4 For he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live with him through the power of God toward you.
• Gal 4:13-14 : 13 but you know that because of weakness of the flesh I preached the Good News to you the first time. 14 That which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you didn't despise nor reject; but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
• 1 Cor 2:3-5 : 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith wouldn't stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
• 1 Cor 4:9-9 : 9 For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. 11 Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. 12 We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. 13 Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.
• Matt 13:44 : 44 "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.
• Matt 13:52 : 52 He said to them, "Therefore, every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things."
• Judg 7:2 : 2 Yahweh said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'
• Judg 7:13-14 : 13 When Gideon had come, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his fellow; and he said, "Behold, I dreamed a dream; and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat." 14 His fellow answered, "This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has delivered Midian into his hand, with all the army."
• Judg 7:16-20 : 16 He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers. 17 He said to them, "Watch me, and do likewise. Behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so you shall do. 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and shout, 'For Yahweh and for Gideon!'" 19 So Gideon, and the hundred men who were with him, came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they shouted, "The sword of Yahweh and of Gideon!"
• 2 Tim 2:20 : 20 Now in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of clay. Some are for honor, and some for dishonor.
• Col 2:12 : 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
• Eph 3:8 : 8 To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
• Job 4:19 : 19 How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!
• Job 10:9 : 9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?