The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests 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.
- 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.
- 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 you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
- Jer 17:10“I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Ps 26:2Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind.
- Prov 27:21The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his praise.
- 1 Chr 29:17I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things. Now I have seen with joy your people, who are present here, offer willingly to you.
- 1 Pet 1:7that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ —
- Ps 66:10For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined.
- Zech 13:9I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’”
- Mal 3:2–3“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap;
- Rev 2:23I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one 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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