Discovery BoxIsaiah 30:14 
Context30:14 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
Isaiah 45:9
Context45:9 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
Isaiah 50:11
Context50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire
and who equip yourselves with 10 flaming arrows, 11
walk 12 in the light 13 of the fire you started
and among the flaming arrows you ignited! 14
This is what you will receive from me: 15
you will lie down in a place of pain. 16
Isaiah 66:19
Context66:19 I will perform a mighty act among them 17 and then send some of those who remain to the nations – to Tarshish, Pul, 18 Lud 19 (known for its archers 20 ), Tubal, Javan, 21 and to the distant coastlands 22 that have not heard about me or seen my splendor. They will tell the nations of my splendor.
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.”
10 tc Several more recent commentators have proposed an emendation of מְאַזְּרֵי (mÿ’azzÿre, “who put on”) to מְאִירִי (mÿ’iri, “who light”). However, both Qumran scrolls of Isaiah and the Vulgate support the MT reading (cf. NIV, ESV).
11 tn On the meaning of זִיקוֹת (ziqot, “flaming arrows”), see HALOT 268 s.v. זִיקוֹת.
12 tn The imperative is probably rhetorical and has a predictive force.
13 tn Or perhaps, “flame” (so ASV).
14 sn Perhaps the servant here speaks to his enemies and warns them that they will self-destruct.
15 tn Heb “from my hand” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
16 sn The imagery may be that of a person who becomes ill and is forced to lie down in pain on a sickbed. Some see this as an allusion to a fiery place of damnation because of the imagery employed earlier in the verse.
17 tn Heb “and I will set a sign among them.” The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Elsewhere “to set a sign” means “perform a mighty act” (Ps 78:43; Jer 32:20), “make [someone] an object lesson” (Ezek 14:8), and “erect a [literal] standard” (Ps 74:4).
18 tn Some prefer to read “Put” (i.e., Libya).
19 sn That is, Lydia (in Asia Minor).
20 tn Heb “drawers of the bow” (KJV and ASV both similar).
21 sn Javan is generally identified today as Greece (so NIV, NCV, NLT).
22 tn Or “islands” (NIV).
