Lexicon :: Strong's H3335 - yāṣar

‘Have you not heard [asks the God of Israel]?

Long ago I did it;

From ancient times I planned it.

Now I have brought it to pass,

That you [king of Assyria] should [be My instrument to] turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

‘You shall break them with a rod of iron;

You shall shatter them [in pieces] like earthenware.’”

He who fashions the hearts of them all,

Who considers and understands all that they do.

You have defined and established all the borders of the earth [the divisions of land and sea and of the nations];

You have made summer and winter.

He who made the ear, does He not hear?

He who formed the eye, does He not see?

Can a throne of destruction be allied with You,

One which frames and devises mischief by decree [under the sacred name of law]?

The sea is His, for He made it [by His command];

And His hands formed the dry land.

There the ships [of the sea] sail,

And Leviathan [the sea monster], which You have formed to play there.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;

And in Your book were all written

The days that were appointed for me,

When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].

You also made a reservoir between the two walls

For the waters of the [fn]Old Pool,

But you did not look to its Maker,

Nor did you recognize Him who planned it long ago.

When its branches are dry, they are broken off;

The women come and [fn]make a fire with them.

For they are not a people of understanding,

Therefore He who made them will not have compassion on them,

And He who created them will not be gracious to them.

You turn things upside down [with your perversity]!

Shall the potter be considered equal with the clay,

That the thing that is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;

Or the thing that is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,

Crushed so savagely

that there cannot be found among its pieces a potsherd [large enough]

To take [coals of] fire from a fireplace,

Or to scoop water from a cistern.”

“Have you not heard [says the God of Israel]

That I did it long ago,

That I planned it in ancient times?

Now I have brought it to pass,

That you [king of Assyria] would [be My instrument to] turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

“I have stirred up and put into action [fn]one from the north [the king of Persia, Cyrus the Great], and he has come;

From the rising of the sun he will call on My Name [in prayer].

And he will trample on [the Babylonian] officials as on mortar,

Even as a potter treads clay.”

But now, this is what the LORD, your Creator says, O Jacob,

And He who formed you, O Israel,

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you [from captivity];

I have called you by name; you are Mine!

Everyone who is called by My Name,

Whom I have created for My glory,

Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD,

“And My servant whom I have chosen,

That you may know and believe Me

And understand that I am He.

Before Me there was no God formed,

And there will be none after Me.

“The people whom I formed for Myself

Will make known My praise.

This is what the LORD who made you

And formed you from the womb, who will help you says,

‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant;

And Jeshurun (Israel, the upright one) whom I have chosen.

All who make carved idols are nothing. Their precious objects are worthless [to them], and their own witnesses (worshipers) fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.

The ironsmith shapes iron and uses a chisel and works it over the coals. He forms the [idol’s] core with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He also becomes hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and grows tired.

“Remember [the foolishness of] these things, O Jacob

And Israel, for you are My servant!

I formed you, you are My servant;

O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me.

For the LORD, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb says this,

“I am the LORD, Maker of all things,

Who alone stretches out the heavens,

Who spreads out the earth [fn]by Myself,

The One forming light and creating darkness,

Causing peace and creating disaster;

I am the LORD who does all these things.

“Woe (judgment is coming) to him who quarrels with his Maker—

A [worthless] piece of broken pottery among other broken pieces [equally worthless]!

Shall the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’

Or does the thing say, ‘He has no hands’?

For the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker says this,

“Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons,

And give Me orders concerning the work of My hands.

For the LORD, who created the heavens [fn](He is God, who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) says this,

“I am the LORD, and there is no one else.

Calling a bird of prey from the east,

From a far country, the man (Cyrus) of My purpose.

Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.

I have planned it, be assured I will do it.

And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,

To bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel might be gathered to Him,

—For I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,

And My God is My strength—

“No weapon that is formed against you will succeed;

And every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn.

This [peace, righteousness, security, and triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,

And this is their vindication from Me,” says the LORD.

Yet, O LORD, You are our Father;

We are the clay, and You our Potter,

And we all are the work of Your hand.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument],

And before you were born I consecrated you [to Myself as My own];

I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

The Portion of Jacob [the true God on whom Israel has a claim] is not like these;

For He is the Designer and Maker of all things,

And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance [and He will not fail them]—

The LORD of hosts is His name.

Thus says the LORD, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests

The Portion of Jacob [the true God of Israel] is not like these [handmade gods];

For He is the Maker of all and the One who formed and fashioned all things,

And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—

The LORD of hosts is His name.