Potsherd

A potsherd (Hebrew heres) is a fragment of broken earthenware pottery. Job used a potsherd to scrape the sores covering his body as he sat in the ash heap (Job 2:8). Psalm 22:15 uses it as an image of extreme dryness and weakness: "my strength is dried up like a potsherd." Proverbs 26:23 compares fervent lips over an evil heart to a glaze of silver over a potsherd — attractive on the outside but base within. Isaiah uses the potsherd to illustrate human folly in questioning God: the potsherd cannot ask the potter why he has made it thus (Isa. 45:9). In biblical archaeology, pottery fragments (potsherds) are among the most reliable materials for dating and identifying ancient sites.