Isaiah 41:25

41:25 I have stirred up one out of the north ¹  and he advances,

one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name. ² 

He steps on ³  rulers as if they were clay,

like a potter treading the clay.

Isaiah 45:9

The Lord Gives a Warning

45:9 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, ⁴ 

one who is like a mere ⁵  shard among the other shards on the ground!

The clay should not say to the potter, ⁶ 

“What in the world ⁷  are you doing?

Your work lacks skill!” ⁸ 

[41:25]  ¹ sn That is, Cyrus the Persian. See the note at v. 2.

[41:25]  ² tn Heb “[one] from the rising of the sun [who] calls in my name.”

[41:25]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has וְיָבֹא (vÿyavo’, “and he comes”), but this is likely a corruption of an original וַיָּבָס (vayyavas), from בּוּס (bus, “step on”).

[45:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who argues with the one who formed him.”

[45:9]  ⁵ tn The words “one who is like a mere” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and clarification.

[45:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “Should the clay say to the one who forms it?” The rhetorical question anticipates a reply, “Of course not!”

[45:9]  ⁷ tn The words “in the world” are supplied in the translation to approximate in English idiom the force of the sarcastic question.

[45:9]  ⁸ 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.”