Romans 9:21 BSB — MannaFest

Romans 9:21

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?

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

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?

KJV

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

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Commentary

1 voice

David Brainerd

1718–1747

The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (ed. Jonathan Edwards), conviction narrative, Chapter I (1749)

I could not bear that it should be wholly at God's pleasure, to save or damn me, just as he would.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

He wills nothing but what is infinitely wise and good; and therefore his will is a most proper rule of judgment. He will show mercy, as he hath assured us, to none but true believers, nor harden any but such as obstinately refuse his mercy.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The potter, out of the same lump, may make either a fashionable vessel, and a vessel fit for creditable and honourable uses, or a contemptible vessel, and a vessel in which is no pleasure; and herein he acts arbitrarily, as he might have chosen whether he would make any vessel of it at all, or whether he would leave it in the hole of the pit, out of which it was dug.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

All are sinners, and have forfeited every claim to His mercy; it is therefore perfectly competent to God to spare one and not another, to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor. But it is to be borne in mind that Paul does not here speak of God's right over His creatures as creatures, but as sinful creatures: as he himself clearly intimates in the next verses.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

22 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
ἢ	ē	Or	G2228 →
οὐκ	ouk	not	G3756 →
ἔχει	echei	has	G2192 →
ἐξουσίαν	exousian	authority	G1849 →
ὁ	ho	the	G3588 →
κεραμεὺς	kerameus	potter	G2763 →
τοῦ	tou	over the	G3588 →
πηλοῦ	pēlou	clay	G4081 →
ἐκ	ek	out of	G1537 →
τοῦ	tou	the	G3588 →
αὐτοῦ	autou	same	G846 →
φυράματος	phuramatos	lump	G5445 →
ποιῆσαι	poiēsai	to make	G4160 →
ὃ	ho	one	G3739 →
μὲν	men	indeed	G3303 →
εἰς	eis	unto	G1519 →
τιμὴν	timēn	honor	G5092 →
σκεῦος	skeuos	vessel	G4632 →
ὃ	ho	one	G3739 →
δὲ	de	however	G1161 →
εἰς	eis	unto	G1519 →
ἀτιμίαν;¶	atimian	dishonor?	G819 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
leads to
- Ephesians 2:10
  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
- Psalms 119:73
  Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments.
- Jeremiah 18:2–6
  “Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal My message to you.”
- Psalms 138:8
  The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me. O LORD, Your loving devotion endures forever— do not abandon the works of Your hands.
- Psalms 100:3
  Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Through
Acts 9:15
“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.
leads to
- Galatians 1:15–16
  But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased
- Ephesians 3:7–8
  I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace, given me through the working of His power.
Through
Proverbs 16:4
The LORD has made everything for His purpose—even the wicked for the day of disaster.
leads to
- 2 Peter 2:9
  if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.