Proverbs 17:3
Just as silver is tested by fire, and gold is tested in the furnace, so also does the Lord test hearts.
Catholic Public Domain Version
In The King James Version
The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
In Context
2A wise servant shall rule over foolish sons, and he will divide the inheritance among brothers.
4The evil obey an unjust tongue. And the false are submissive to lying lips.
Cross References
Deuteronomy 8:2And you shall remember the entire journey along which the Lord your God led you, for forty years through the desert, to afflict you, and to test you, and to make known the things that were turning in your soul, whether or not you would keep his commandments.
1 Chronicles 29:17I know, my God, that you test hearts, and that you love simplicity. Therefore, in the simplicity of my heart, I also have offered all these things joyfully. And I have seen, with immense gladness, your people, who have been found here, offering their donations to you.
Job 28:1Silver has its fissures where it is first found, and gold has a place where it is melted.
Proverbs 21:2Every way of a man seems right to himself. But the Lord weighs hearts.
Isaiah 48:10Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver. I have chosen you for the furnace of poverty.
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 →