30:14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,
so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. 1
Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough 2
to scoop a hot coal from a fire 3
or to skim off water from a cistern.” 4
45:9 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, 5
one who is like a mere 6 shard among the other shards on the ground!
The clay should not say to the potter, 7
“What in the world 8 are you doing?
Your work lacks skill!” 9
1 tn Heb “Its shattering is like the shattering of a jug of [i.e., “made by”] potters, [so] shattered one cannot save [any of it].”
2 tn The words “large enough” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
3 tn Heb “to remove fire from the place of kindling.”
4 tn On the meaning of גֶבֶא (geveh, “cistern”) see HALOT 170 s.v.
5 tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who argues with the one who formed him.”
6 tn The words “one who is like a mere” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and clarification.
7 tn Heb “Should the clay say to the one who forms it?” The rhetorical question anticipates a reply, “Of course not!”
8 tn The words “in the world” are supplied in the translation to approximate in English idiom the force of the sarcastic question.
9 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.”