Verse 9

The Lord Gives a Warning One who argues with his Creator is in grave danger, one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground! The clay should not say to the potter,“What in the world are you doing? Your work lacks skill!”

Referenced Verses

  • Rom 9:20-21 : 20 But who indeed are you– a mere human being– to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder,“Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?
  • Isa 29:16 : 16 Your thinking is perverse! Should the potter be regarded as clay? Should the thing made say about its maker,“He didn’t make me”? Or should the pottery say about the potter,“He doesn’t understand”?
  • Isa 64:8 : 8 Yet, LORD, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the product of your labor.
  • Jer 18:6 : 6 “I, the LORD, say:‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’
  • Jer 50:24 : 24 I set a trap for you, Babylon; you were caught before you knew it. You fought against me. So you were found and captured.
  • Prov 21:30 : 30 There is no wisdom and there is no understanding, and there is no counsel against the LORD.
  • Isa 10:15 : 15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!
  • Exod 9:16-17 : 16 But for this purpose I have caused you to stand: to show you my strength, and so that my name may be declared in all the earth. 17 You are still exalting yourself against my people by not releasing them.
  • Job 15:24-26 : 24 Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack, 25 for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty, 26 defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield!
  • Job 40:8-9 : 8 Would you indeed annul my justice? Would you declare me guilty so that you might be right? 9 Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
  • Ps 2:2-9 : 2 The kings of the earth form a united front; the rulers collaborate against the LORD and his anointed king. 3 They say,“Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! Let’s free ourselves from their ropes!” 4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust; the Lord taunts them. 5 Then he angrily speaks to them and terrifies them in his rage, saying, 6 “I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 The king says,“I will announce the LORD’s decree. He said to me:‘You are my son! This very day I have become your father! 8 Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your personal property. 9 You will break them with an iron scepter; you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’”