Discovery BoxIsaiah 45:9-10 
Context45:9 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
45:10 Danger awaits one who says 6 to his father,
“What in the world 7 are you fathering?”
and to his mother,
“What in the world are you bringing forth?” 8
1 tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who argues with the one who formed him.”
2 tn The words “one who is like a mere” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and clarification.
3 tn Heb “Should the clay say to the one who forms it?” The rhetorical question anticipates a reply, “Of course not!”
4 tn The words “in the world” are supplied in the translation to approximate in English idiom the force of the sarcastic question.
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.”
6 tn Heb “Woe [to] one who says” (NASB and NIV both similar); NCV “How terrible it will be.”
7 tn See the note at v. 9. This phrase occurs a second time later in this verse.
8 sn Verses 9-10 may allude to the exiles’ criticism that the Lord does not appear to know what he is doing.
