Genesis 2:7

2:7 The Lord God formed ¹  the man from the soil of the ground ²  and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, ³  and the man became a living being. ⁴ 

Genesis 3:19

3:19 By the sweat of your brow ⁵  you will eat food

until you return to the ground, ⁶ 

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” ⁷ 

Isaiah 45:9

The Lord Gives a Warning

45:9 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, ⁸ 

one who is like a mere ⁹  shard among the other shards on the ground!

The clay should not say to the potter, ¹⁰ 

“What in the world ¹¹  are you doing?

Your work lacks skill!” ¹² 

Isaiah 64:8

64:8 Yet, ¹³  Lord, you are our father.

We are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the product of your labor. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 18:6

18:6 “I, the Lord, say: ¹⁵  ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? ¹⁶  In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’

[2:7]  ¹ tn Or “fashioned.” The prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive initiates narrative sequence. The Hebrew word יָצַר (yatsar) means “to form” or “to fashion,” usually by plan or design (see the related noun יֵצֶר [yetser] in Gen 6:5). It is the term for an artist’s work (the Hebrew term יוֹצֵר [yotser] refers to a potter; see Jer 18:2-4.)

[2:7]  ² tn The line literally reads “And Yahweh God formed the man, soil, from the ground.” “Soil” is an adverbial accusative, identifying the material from which the man was made.

[2:7]  ³ tn The Hebrew word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah, “breath”) is used for God and for the life imparted to humans, not animals (see T. C. Mitchell, “The Old Testament Usage of Nÿshama,” VT 11 [1961]: 177-87). Its usage in the Bible conveys more than a breathing living organism (נֶפֶשׁ חַיַּה, nefesh khayyah). Whatever is given this breath of life becomes animated with the life from God, has spiritual understanding (Job 32:8), and has a functioning conscience (Prov 20:27).

[2:7]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often translated “soul,” but the word usually refers to the whole person. The phrase נֶפֶשׁ חַיַּה (nefesh khayyah, “living being”) is used of both animals and human beings (see 1:20, 24, 30; 2:19).

[3:19]  ⁵ tn The expression “the sweat of your brow” is a metonymy, the sweat being the result of painful toil in the fields.

[3:19]  ⁶ sn Until you return to the ground. The theme of humankind’s mortality is critical here in view of the temptation to be like God. Man will labor painfully to provide food, obviously not enjoying the bounty that creation promised. In place of the abundance of the orchard’s fruit trees, thorns and thistles will grow. Man will have to work the soil so that it will produce the grain to make bread. This will continue until he returns to the soil from which he was taken (recalling the creation in 2:7 with the wordplay on Adam and ground). In spite of the dreams of immortality and divinity, man is but dust (2:7), and will return to dust. So much for his pride.

[3:19]  ⁷ sn In general, the themes of the curse oracles are important in the NT teaching that Jesus became the cursed one hanging on the tree. In his suffering and death, all the motifs are drawn together: the tree, the sweat, the thorns, and the dust of death (see Ps 22:15). Jesus experienced it all, to have victory over it through the resurrection.

[45:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who argues with the one who formed him.”

[45:9]  ⁹ tn The words “one who is like a mere” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and clarification.

[45:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Should the clay say to the one who forms it?” The rhetorical question anticipates a reply, “Of course not!”

[45:9]  ¹¹ tn The words “in the world” are supplied in the translation to approximate in English idiom the force of the sarcastic question.

[45:9]  ¹² 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.”

[64:8]  ¹³ tn On the force of וְעַתָּה (vÿ’attah) here, see HALOT 902 s.v. עַתָּה.

[64:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the work of your hand.”

[18:6]  ¹⁵ tn This phrase (literally “Oracle of the Lord”) has been handled this way on several occasions when it occurs within first person addresses where the Lord is the speaker. See, e.g., 16:16; 17:24.

[18:6]  ¹⁶ tn The words “deals with the clay” are not in the text. They are part of an elliptical comparison and are supplied in the translation here for clarity.