15 Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it,
    or the saw boast against the one who uses it?(A)
As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up,
    or a club(B) brandish the one who is not wood!

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20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?(A) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,(B) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[a](C) 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?(D)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9

“Woe to those who quarrel(A) with their Maker,(B)
    those who are nothing but potsherds(C)
    among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,(D)
    ‘What are you making?’(E)
Does your work say,
    ‘The potter has no hands’?(F)

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16 You turn things upside down,
    as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!(A)
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed(B) it,
    “You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,(C)
    “You know nothing”?(D)

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Will you then say, “I am a god,”
    in the presence of those who kill you?
You will be but a mortal, not a god,(A)
    in the hands of those who slay you.(B)

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20 “You are my war club,(A)
    my weapon for battle—
with you I shatter(B) nations,(C)
    with you I destroy kingdoms,
21 with you I shatter horse and rider,(D)
    with you I shatter chariot(E) and driver,
22 with you I shatter man and woman,
    with you I shatter old man and youth,
    with you I shatter young man and young woman,(F)
23 with you I shatter shepherd and flock,
    with you I shatter farmer and oxen,
    with you I shatter governors and officials.(G)

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13 Rise up,(A) Lord, confront them, bring them down;(B)
    with your sword rescue me from the wicked.
14 By your hand save me from such people, Lord,
    from those of this world(C) whose reward is in this life.(D)
May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies;
    may their children gorge themselves on it,
    and may there be leftovers(E) for their little ones.

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