Proverbs 17:3
The heating-pot is for silver and the oven-fire for gold, but the Lord is the tester of hearts.
Bible in Basic English
In The King James Version
The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
In Context
4A wrongdoer gives attention to evil lips, and a man of deceit gives ear to a damaging tongue.
Cross References
Deuteronomy 8:2And keep in mind the way by which the Lord your God has taken you through the waste land these forty years, so that he might make low your pride and put you to the test, to see what was in your heart and if you would keep his orders or not.
1 Chronicles 29:17And I am conscious, my God, that you are the searcher of hearts, taking pleasure in righteousness. As for me, with an upright heart I have freely given all these things; and I have seen with joy your people who are here to make their offerings freely to you.
Job 28:1Truly there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is washed out.
Psalms 66:10For you, O God, have put us to the test: testing us by fire like silver.
Proverbs 21:2Every way of a man seems right to himself, but the Lord is the tester of hearts.
Isaiah 48:10See, I have been testing you for myself like silver; I have put you through the fire of trouble.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:3
2 A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren. Note, 1. True merit does not go by dignity. All agree that the son in the family is more worthy than the servant ( John viii. 35 ), and yet sometimes it so happens that the servant is wise, and a blessing and credit to the family, when the son is a fool, and a burden and shame to the family. Eliezer of Damascus, though Abram could not bear to think that he should be his heir, was a stay to the… Read the whole commentary →