You are our father. Our ancestors Abraham and Jacob do not acknowledge us, but you, LORD, are our father, the one who has always rescued us.

Then you must tell him that I, the LORD, say, 'Israel is my first-born son.

Is this the way you should treat the LORD, you foolish, senseless people? He is your father, your Creator, he made you into a nation.

It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus.

If you belong to Christ, then you are the descendants of Abraham and will receive what God has promised.

They turn everything upside down. Which is more important, the potter or the clay? Can something you have made say, "You didn't make me"? Or can it say, "You don't know what you are doing"?

Does a clay pot dare argue with its maker, a pot that is like all the others? Does the clay ask the potter what he is doing? Does the pot complain that its maker has no skill?

"Go down to the potter's house, where I will give you my message."

Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else.

"Don't I have the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter's hands.

But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, "Why did you make me like this?"

And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction.

For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles.

They are my own people, and I created them to bring me glory."

The LORD says, "Israel, remember this; remember that you are my servant. I created you to be my servant, and I will never forget you.

"I am the LORD, your savior; I am the one who created you. I am the LORD, the Creator of all things. I alone stretched out the heavens; when I made the earth, no one helped me.

Your hands formed and shaped me, and now those same hands destroy me.

Remember that you made me from clay; are you going to crush me back to dust?

Acknowledge that the LORD is God. He made us, and we belong to him; we are his people, we are his flock.

You created me, and you keep me safe; give me understanding, so that I may learn your laws.

You will do everything you have promised; LORD, your love is eternal. Complete the work that you have begun.

God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.