Verses 9-10 may be a speech of the LORD (so Revised Standard Version, which places them within quote marks), but they are more likely a comment made by the prophet (so Good News Translation).

Woe to him who strives with his Maker…!: As in chapter 5, the Hebrew particle rendered Woe announces doom, grief, and even punishment. For comments on this particle, see 1.4, where it is rendered “Ah.” Here God condemns anyone who strives with his Maker, that is, anyone who quarrels with God his Creator. God refers to himself as Maker. This Woe Oracle is addressed to those Israelites who will not accept what God has said, so Contemporary English Version renders the whole line as “Israel, you have no right to argue with your Creator.”

An earthen vessel with the potter is parallel to the previous line. It compares the relationship between God and his people Israel to the relationship between a potter and the pot he makes. It may be rendered “Woe to an earthen vessel that strives with the potter!” However, Revised Standard Version follows an emended text here (also New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible). The Hebrew text of Masoretic Text is literally “a potsherd with the potsherds of the earth.” New International Version follows Masoretic Text with “[Woe] to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project and de~Waard favor Masoretic Text. De~Waard recommends the rendering of New Jerusalem Bible here, which is “one earthen pot among many” (similarly Good News Translation, Bible en français courant). Translators may choose either Masoretic Text or the emended text here. For “potsherd” see 30.14.

Good News Translation renders the Woe Oracle here as a rhetorical question, but this seems to weaken the impact of the statement. However, it does conform with the rhetorical questions that follow.

Does the clay say to him who fashions it, ‘What are you making’? is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes two points: it is unthinkable that a piece of clay can talk, and even if it could, that it would question the potter’s decision about what to make from it. Of course, the answer to the question is “No!” The use of irony here is obvious. A similar question occurs in 29.16 (see the comments there; see also 41.25). Languages that do not favor rhetorical questions may use an emphatic statement instead; for example, “Surely the clay cannot ask the potter what he is making with it.” This model also uses indirect speech, which may be helpful in some languages (see also the second example below).

Or ‘Your work has no handles’? is another rhetorical question, parallel to the previous one. A finished pot cannot criticize the potter because he did not give it handles, especially if it was not meant to have handles! This question and the previous one imply that no one created by God can criticize him for what he has done or will do. The noun rendered handles (literally “two hands”) has a dual form in Hebrew, referring to a pair of handles. However, Good News Translation understands this noun as referring to two hands, so it renders this question as “Does the pot complain that its maker has no skill?” (similarly Revised English Bible). We prefer the sense of “two handles” here. This question may be rendered as a strong statement by saying “Surely the clay cannot criticize the potter for making a pot without handles!”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Woe [or, Doom] to anyone who argues with his maker,
anyone who is like an earthen vessel among many!
Can the clay say to the person shaping it,
“What are you making”?
or “Why does what you have made lack a pair of handles”?

• Woe to someone who argues with his maker,
woe to an earthen vessel, arguing with its potter!
Can the clay ask the person shaping it what he is making?
Can it criticize the pot he has made as having no handles?

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .