Isaiah 45:9

The Lord Gives a Warning

45:9 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger,21

one who is like a mere22 shard among the other shards on the ground!

The clay should not say to the potter,23

“What in the world24 are you doing?

Your work lacks skill!”25

21	tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who argues with the one who formed him.”
22	tn The words “one who is like a mere” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and clarification.
23	tn Heb “Should the clay say to the one who forms it?” The rhetorical question anticipates a reply, “Of course not!”
24	tn The words “in the world” are supplied in the translation to approximate in English idiom the force of the sarcastic question.
25	tn Heb “your work, there are no hands for it,” i.e., “your work looks like something made by a person who has no hands.”