Wisdom of Solomon 15:7-9

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁷ A potter kneads the soft earth
and laboriously molds each vessel for our service,
fashioning out of the same clay
both the vessels that serve clean uses
and those for contrary uses, making all alike,
but which shall be the use of each of them
the worker in clay decides.^(A)
8 With misspent toil, these workers form a futile god from the same clay—
these mortals who were made of earth a short time before
and after a little while go to the earth from which all mortals are taken,
when the time comes to return the souls that were borrowed.^(B)
9 But the workers are not concerned that mortals are destined to die
or that their life is brief,
but they compete with workers in gold and silver
and imitate workers in copper,
and they count it a glorious thing to mold counterfeit gods.^(C)