Jeremiah 18:4

in the hand of the potter rather, as LXX, in his hands, thus avoiding harshness. "The potter" has doubtless crept into MT. from being a marginal gloss. Its admission to the MT. drew with it, through the influence of the wording of Jeremiah 18:6, the addition of the Hebrew for "of the clay," which accordingly is also absent from LXX. For illustrations drawn from the potter's art cp. Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9; Isaiah 64:8; Wis 15:7; Sir 33:13. Pe. also compares Browning's Rabbi Ben-Ezra(25 to end). St Paul's employment of the figure (Romans 9-11) is quite different from Jeremiah's, as the former uses it in application to God's absolute right to dispose the fortunes of his creatures for good or evil.