doom: this is the point of v 11* (Giesebrecht). Those who have held that vv 7–11* are secondary have assumed that an optimistic message has been overlaid by a darker one.10 Two things must be emphasized. First, the clay is not altogether passive. Any potter will affirm that because of the centrifugal force developed on the wheel the clay presses against the hands of the potter.11 The process of shaping pottery is therefore an extraordinarily apt analogy for the work of Yahweh with his people: