In the plain of Jordan the king had them cast in clay molds, between Succoth and Zaretan.

In the plain of Jordan the king had them cast in clay molds, between Succoth and Zeredah.

How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before a moth?

Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again?

Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.

Though he heaps up silver like dust, And piles up clothing like clay—

Truly I am as your spokesman before God; I also have been formed out of clay.

It takes on form like clay under a seal, And stands out like a garment.

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.

Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

“I have raised up one from the north, And he shall come; From the rising of the sun he shall call on My name; And he shall come against princes as though mortar, As the potter treads clay.

“Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?

But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.

The Potter and the Clay

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!

“Take large stones in your hand, and hide them in the sight of the men of Judah, in the clay in the brick courtyard which is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes;

The precious sons of Zion, Valuable as fine gold, How they are regarded as clay pots, The work of the hands of the potter!

The Siege of Jerusalem Portrayed

“You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem.

its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.

And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.

As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.