For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
Parallel translations
- WEB For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined.
- BSB For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.
- NKJV For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.
- NASB For You have put us to the test, God; You have refined us as silver is refined.
- NLT You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver.
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
God has tested and refined His people like silver. It teaches that God uses trials to purify those He loves.
Overview
The psalmist acknowledges that God has tested them, refining them as silver is purified by fire. Trials are not random but God's refining work. The New Testament likewise teaches that tested faith, more precious than gold, results in praise at the revealing of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 48:10Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
- Ps 17:3Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
- 1 Pet 1:6–7Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
- Prov 17:3The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
- Job 23:10But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
- 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.
- Deut 8:2And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
- Deut 8:16Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
- Deut 13:3Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 66:10 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.