Proverbs 17:3
A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.
Berean Standard Bible
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 will rule over a disgraceful son and share his inheritance as one of the brothers.
4A wicked man listens to evil lips; a liar gives ear to a destructive tongue.
Cross References
Deuteronomy 8:2Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.
1 Chronicles 29:17I know, my God, that You test the heart and delight in uprightness. All these things I have given willingly and with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.
Job 28:1“Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.
Psalms 66:10For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.
Proverbs 21:2All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.
Isaiah 48:10See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
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 →