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The Potter’s Clay Idols

For the potter, laboriously working the soft earth,
    molds for our service each single article:
He fashions out of the same clay
    both the vessels that serve for clean purposes
    and their opposites, all alike;
As to what shall be the use of each vessel of either class
    the worker in clay is the judge.(A)
[a]With misspent toil he molds a meaningless god from the selfsame clay,
    though he himself shortly before was made from the earth,
And is soon to go whence he was taken,
    when the life that was lent him is demanded back.(B)
But his concern is not that he is to die
    nor that his span of life is brief;
Rather, he vies with goldsmiths and silversmiths
    and emulates molders of bronze,
    and takes pride in fashioning counterfeits.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 15:8–9 The author matches the irony of his words about the carpenter in 13:15–19 with this description of the potter’s vain work.