²⁰ Who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to him who formed it, “Why did you make me this way?”^{[a] 21} Or has the potter no right to make from a given lump of clay this pot for honorable use and that one for dishonorable? ²² Now what if God, even though he was quite willing to demonstrate his anger and make known his power, patiently put up with people who deserved punishment and were ripe for destruction?