Isaiah 45:9

The Lord Gives a Warning

45:9 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, ¹ 

one who is like a mere ²  shard among the other shards on the ground!

The clay should not say to the potter, ³ 

“What in the world ⁴  are you doing?

Your work lacks skill!” ⁵ 

Isaiah 57:16

57:16 For I will not be hostile ⁶  forever

or perpetually angry,

for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, ⁷ 

the life-giving breath I created.

[45:9]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who argues with the one who formed him.”

[45:9]  ² tn The words “one who is like a mere” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and clarification.

[45:9]  ³ tn Heb “Should the clay say to the one who forms it?” The rhetorical question anticipates a reply, “Of course not!”

[45:9]  ⁴ tn The words “in the world” are supplied in the translation to approximate in English idiom the force of the sarcastic question.

[45:9]  ⁵ 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.”

[57:16]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “argue,” or “accuse” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[57:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “for a spirit from before me would be faint.”