A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.
Parallel translations
- WEB The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but Yahweh tests the hearts.
- KJV The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
- NKJV The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests the hearts.
- NASB The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests hearts.
- NLT Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the Lord tests the heart.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As fire refines metals, the Lord tests and refines human hearts. It matters because God alone purifies and proves the inner person.
Overview
This proverb compares God's testing of hearts to the refining of silver and gold by fire. The Lord searches and purifies the inner life, revealing and removing impurity. The New Testament develops this image of God refining believers' faith through trials (1 Peter 1:6-7; Malachi 3:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 48:10See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
- Jer 17:10I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
- Ps 26:2Test me, O LORD, and try me; examine my heart and mind.
- Prov 27:21A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but a man is tested by the praise accorded him.
- 1 Chr 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.
- 1 Pet 1:7so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
- Ps 66:10For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.
- Zech 13:9This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”
- Mal 3:2–3But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
- Rev 2:23Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 17:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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