Isaiah 45:5-12

English Standard Version

⁵^(A)I am the Lord, and there is no other,
    besides me there is no God;
    ^(B)I equip you, though you do not know me,
⁶^(C)that people may know, from the rising of the sun
    and from the west, that there is none besides me;
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷I form light and create darkness;
    I make well-being and ^(D)create calamity;
    I am the Lord, who does all these things.

⁸^(E)“Shower, O heavens, from above,
    and ^(F)let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
    let the earth cause them both to sprout;
    I the Lord have created it.

⁹^(G)“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
    a pot among earthen pots!
^(H)Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
    or ‘Your work has no handles’?
¹⁰Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
    or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”

¹¹Thus says ^(I)the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
^(J)“Ask me of things to come;
    will you command me ^(K)concerning my children and ^(L)the work of my hands?^[a]
¹²^(M)I made the earth
    and created man on it;
it was my hands ^(N)that stretched out the heavens,
    and ^(O)I commanded all their host.

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Footnotes

Isaiah 45:11 A slight emendation yields will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands?

Jeremiah 18:1-11

English Standard Version

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Arise, and go down to ^(A)the potter's house, and there I will let you hear^[a] my words.” ³So I went down to ^(B)the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴And the vessel he was making of clay was ^(C)spoiled in the potter's hand, and ^(D)he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶“O house of Israel, ^(E)can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. ^(F)Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will ^(G)pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, ^(H)turns from its evil, ^(I)I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. ⁹And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will ^(J)build and plant it, ¹⁰and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. ¹¹Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. ^(K)Return, every one from his evil way, and ^(L)amend your ways and your deeds.’