and he is to slaughter one bird into a clay vessel over fresh water. ¹ 

Remember that you have made me as with ¹  the clay; will ²  you return me to dust?

Your maxims ¹  are proverbs of ashes; ²  your defenses ³  are defenses of clay. ⁴ 

If he piles up silver like dust and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,

The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; ¹  its features ²  are dyed ³  like a garment.

I grind them as fine windblown dust; ¹  I beat them underfoot ²  like clay ³  in the streets.

For he knows what we are made of; ¹  he realizes ²  we are made of clay. ³ 

Its legs were of iron; its feet were partly of iron and partly of clay. ¹ 

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.

Now and then ¹  there would be something wrong ²  with the pot he was molding from the clay ³  with his hands. So he would rework ⁴  the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit. ⁵ 

“I, the Lord, say: ¹  ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? ²  In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’

And ¹  in that you saw iron mixed with wet clay, so people will be mixed ²  with one another ³  without adhering to one another, just as ⁴  iron does not mix with clay.

As for any clay vessel they fall into, ¹  everything in it ²  will become unclean and you must break it.

The priest will then command that one bird be slaughtered ¹  into a clay vessel over fresh water. ² 

Look, I am just like you in relation to God; I too have been molded ¹  from clay.

A clay vessel ¹  which the man with the discharge touches must be broken, and any wooden utensil must be rinsed in water.

I grind them as fine as the dust of the ground; I crush them and stomp on them like clay ¹  in the streets.

how much more to those who live in houses of clay, ¹  whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed ²  like ³  a moth?

Yet, ¹  Lord, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the product of your labor. ² 

ב (Bet) The precious sons of Zion were worth their weight in gold – Alas! – but now they are treated like ¹  broken clay pots, made by a potter. ²