The Lord has a plan for everything. And in the Lord’s plan, evil people will be destroyed.
Romans 9:21 - Easy To Read Version The man that makes the jar can make anything he wants to make. He can use the same clay to make different things. He can make one thing for special purposes and another thing for daily use. Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? Amplified Bible - Classic Edition Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same mass (lump) one vessel for beauty and distinction and honorable use, and another for menial or ignoble and dishonorable use? American Standard Version (1901) Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? Common English Bible Doesn’t the potter have the power over the clay to make one pot for special purposes and another for garbage from the same lump of clay? Catholic Public Domain Version And does not the potter have the authority over the clay to make, from the same material, indeed, one vessel unto honor, yet truly another unto disgrace? Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? |
The Lord has a plan for everything. And in the Lord’s plan, evil people will be destroyed.
An axe is not better than the person that cuts with it. A saw is not better than the person that saws with it. \{But Assyria thinks he is more important and powerful than God.\} And this is like a stick being more powerful and important than the person that picks it up and uses it to punish someone.
“Look at these people! They are arguing with the One who made them. Look at them argue with me! They are like pieces of clay from a broken pot. A man uses soft, wet clay to make a pot. And the clay does not ask, ‘Man, what are you doing?’ Things that are made don’t have the power to question the one who makes them. \{People are like this clay.\}
But Lord, you are our father.\par We are like clay.\par And you are the potter. {\cf2\super [464]} \par Your hands made us all.\par
Coniah (Jehoiachin) is like a broken pot\par that some person threw away.\par He is like a pot that no person wants.\par Why will Jehoiachin and his children\par be thrown out?\par Why will they be thrown away\par into a foreign land?\par
Israel was destroyed.\par \{Its people are scattered among the\} nations\par like some dish that was thrown away\par because no one wanted it.\par
But the Lord (Jesus) said to Ananias, “Go! I have chosen Saul for an important work. He must tell about me to kings, to the Jewish people, and to other nations.
So God shows mercy to the people he wants to show mercy to. And God makes the people stubborn that he wants to make stubborn.
\{Don’t ask that.\} You are only people. And people have no right to question God. A clay jar does not question the man that made it. The jar does not say, “Why did you make me like this?”