The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
Parallel translations
- WEB The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but Yahweh tests the hearts.
- BSB A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of 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 48:10Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
- Jer 17:10I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
- Ps 26:2Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
- Prov 27:21As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.
- 1 Chr 29:17I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.
- 1 Pet 1:7That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
- Ps 66:10For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
- Zech 13:9And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
- Mal 3:2–3But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
- Rev 2:23And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
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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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