Proverbs 17:3
Workers put silver and gold in a very hot furnace to burn out what is impure, and Yahweh similarly examines people’s inner beings to see if they are pure.
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
In Context
Cross References
Deuteronomy 8:2And do not forget how Yahweh our God led us as we traveled through the desert during these past 40 years. He caused you to have many problems/difficulties, because he wanted to cause you to realize that you needed to trust him and not yourselves. And he wanted to test you, to find out what you intended to do [IDM], whether you would obey his commandments or not.
1 Chronicles 29:17My God, I know that you test us people, and you are pleased if you find out that we do what is right. All these things I have given to you because I wanted to. And now I have seen that your people have also joyfully and generously given things to you.
Job 28:1“It is true that there are places where men dig to find silver, and there are places where people refine/purify gold that they have dug.
Psalms 66:10God, you have tested us; you have allowed us to experience great difficulties to make our lives become pure as people put precious metals in a hot fire to burn out what is impure [MET].
Proverbs 21:2People always think that what they do is right, but Yahweh judges our ◄motives/reasons for doing things► [MTY].
Isaiah 48:10I have purified you, but not the way people refine silver. Instead, I have caused you to suffer very much to get rid of your impure behavior, like [MET] people put metal in a very hot furnace to get rid of the impurities.
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 →