1
But you, our God, are kind and true and patient. You rule the universe with mercy.
2
Even if we sin, we know your power and are still yours. But because we know that we belong to you, we will not sin.
3
Knowing you is perfect righteousness. Recognizing your power is where immortality begins.
4
We have not been misled by any evil product of human skill, by any useless object painted by some artist, or by any idol smeared with different colors.
5
The sight of such things arouses the passions of foolish people and makes them desire a dead, lifeless image.
6
Anyone who makes such a thing or desires it or worships it is in love with something evil, and gets what he deserves when he places his hopes in it.
7
A potter works the soft clay and carefully shapes each object for our use. Some things he makes are put to good use, and some are not, but he makes them all from the same clay, and shapes them in the same manner. The potter himself decides which objects shall be used for what purposes.
8
He is a human being who was himself formed from earth only a short while earlier, and after a little while, when he must return the soul that was lent to him, he will go back to the same earth. He is a human being, but he wastes his labor shaping a useless god out of the same clay that he uses to make pots.
9
His life will be short, and he will soon have to die, but he is not concerned about that. He wants to compete with those who work in gold, silver, and bronze, and make things like they do. He takes great pride in the things he makes, but they are counterfeit.
10
His heart is made of ashes. His hope is cheaper than dirt. His life is not worth as much as his clay,
11
because he never came to know the God who shaped him, who breathed into him an active soul and a living spirit.