Proverbs 17:3

3 A crucible [is] for the silver, and a furnace [is] for the gold, but Yahweh will test hearts.

Proverbs 17:3 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 17:3

The fining pot [is] for silver, and the furnace for gold
Refiners of silver have their fining pots, in which they purify the silver from the dross; and goldsmiths have their crucibles to melt and purify their gold, by which assays of the worth and value of it may be made; but the Lord trieth the hearts;
there is no vessel, as Gersom observes, in which they can be put and tried by creatures; a man does not know, nor can he thoroughly search and try his own heart, and much less the hearts of others; God only knows and tries them, ( Jeremiah 17:9 Jeremiah 17:10 ) ; The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it by way of similitude, "as the fining pot is for silver" as silver is refined in the pot, and gold in the furnace, so are the hearts of God's people, and their graces tried and purified by him in the furnace of affliction; the variety of troubles they are exercised with are made useful for the purging away of the dross of sin and corruption, and for the brightening of their graces, ( 1 Peter 1:7 ) .

Proverbs 17:3 In-Context

1 Better a dry morsel and quiet with it than a house filled [with] feasts of strife.

2 A slave who deals wisely will rule over a child who acts shamefully, and in the midst of brothers he will share his inheritance.

3 A crucible [is] for the silver, and a furnace [is] for the gold, but Yahweh will test hearts.

4 He who does evil listens to lips of wickedness, [and] the liar gives heed to the tongue of mischief.

5 He who mocks the poor insults him who made him; he who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.