Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?
Parallel translations
- KJV Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
- BSB Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?
- NKJV Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
- NASB Or does the potter not have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one object for honorable use, and another for common use?
- NLT When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Like a potter, God has the right to make from the same lump vessels for honorable and ordinary use. The Creator is free to dispose of his creatures as he sees fit.
Overview
Continuing the potter imagery from Isaiah and Jeremiah, Paul affirms God's rightful authority over humanity. From the one lump of fallen mankind, God may make some vessels for honor and others for common use, an analogy for his sovereign dealings in mercy and judgment. The point is God's legitimate freedom, exercised always in perfect wisdom and justice, not arbitrary cruelty.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 64:8But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.
- 2 Tim 2:20–21Now in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of clay. Some are for honor, and some for dishonor.
- Prov 16:4Yahweh has made everything for its own end — yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.
- Jer 18:3–6Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels.
- Acts 9:15But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel.
- Rom 9:22–23What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction,
- Rom 9:11For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls,
- Rom 9:18So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
- Hos 8:8Israel is swallowed up. Now they are among the nations like a worthless thing.
- Jer 22:28Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which no one delights? Why are they cast out, he and his offspring, and cast into a land which they don’t know?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 9:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.