one object for special use and another for ordinary use

The Greek in Romans 9:21 that is translated as “one object for special use and another for ordinary use” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with the word play Tafelgeschirr oder Nachtgeschirr or “table ware or chamber pot.”

complete verse (Romans 9:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 9:21:

  • Uma: “The maker has the right [lit., seat] to make the pot according to his own desire. From one lump of clay he can make one pot that he does fancy and one that he makes just-to-get-done [an idiom meaning to do something without much thought or care.]” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “We (dual) know that the person who makes a clay pot has the authority to make whatever he wants to be made. From one clump of earth he makes one container very beautiful and valuable and one also not very beautiful and being used every day.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It’s like a potter, when He is making two clay pots; He is the one who is in control of which one of the two He will make very beautiful to look at because He will decorate it, and which one of the two He will make not so beautiful because it’s just an ordinary pot.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “It’s not possible, because the one who makes clay pots, it’s up-to-him to shape whatever he wants. If he wants, he has the right to shape two kinds of pot from one lump (lit. round), one for valuable uses and one for whatever, isn’t that right?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Now concerning the pot maker, according to the form he wants the pot which he makes to be, that is what it will be. Even though it be the same clay, yet he can make one pot which is for special use and he can make one for not special use” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “The one who can work with clay can do what he wants. He can make a vessel for some good work. And he can make another one for some work that isn’t so good. He can make for two works even though it is just one piece of clay.”
  • Isthmus Zapotec: “As though the one who makes pots doesn’t have the right to make one pretty and from the some clay make another which is only used on the fire.” (Source for this and one above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

Translation commentary on Romans 9:20 – 9:21

The place of these verses in Paul’s argument is to underscore the fact that a man does not have the right to question God’s actions.

My friend (so also An American Translation*, cf. New American Bible) is literally “O man” (cf. 2.1).

But who are you … to talk back to God? may be rendered as “but who do you think you are that you can talk back to God?” or “but how is it that you think you are so big (or important) that you can talk back to God?” or “… that you can object to what God has decided?”

Has the right may be translated as “is permitted to” or “is allowed to.” In some languages this may be equivalent to some form of the auxiliary “can” or “may,” both of which in English express certain aspects of permission and possibility.

The phrases for special occasions and for ordinary use are rendered in a number of ways in different translations, but the contrast is between a pot that is reserved for some special function and one in everyday use.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .