²⁶ Then God said, “^[a]Let ^(A)Us make ^(B)mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and ^[b]let them ^(C)rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man ^(D)in His own image, in the image of God He created him; ^(E)male and female He created them. ²⁸ God blessed them; and God said to them, “^(F)Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that ^[c]moves on the earth.” ²⁹ Then God said, “Behold, ^(G)I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the ^[d]surface of all the earth, and every tree ^[e]which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ³⁰ and ^(H)to every animal of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that ^[f]moves on the earth ^[g]which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. ³¹ And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very ^(I)good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ² “Arise and ^(A)go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. ⁴ But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁶ “Am I not able, house of Israel, to deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the ^(B)clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.

^19 (A)You will say to me then, “^(B)Why does He still find fault? For ^(C)who has resisted His will?” ²⁰ On the contrary, who are you, ^[a](D)you foolish person, who ^(E)answers back to God? ^(F)The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? ²¹ Or does the potter not have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one object ^[b]for honorable use, and another ^[c]for common use?

³³ Oh, the depth of ^(A)the riches, ^[a]both of the ^(B)wisdom and knowledge of God! ^(C)How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! ³⁴ For ^(D)who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? ³⁵ Or ^(E)who has first given to Him, ^[b]that it would be paid back to him? ³⁶ For ^(F)from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. ^(G)To Him be the glory ^[c]forever. Amen.