1 Peter 4:12

4:12 Dear friends, do not be astonished ¹  that a trial by fire is occurring among you, ²  as though something strange were happening to you.

Job 23:10

23:10 But he knows the pathway that I take; ³ 

if he tested me, I would come forth like gold. ⁴ 

Psalms 66:10

66:10 For ⁵  you, O God, tested us;

you purified us like refined silver.

Proverbs 17:3

17:3 The crucible ⁶  is for refining ⁷  silver and the furnace ⁸  is for gold,

likewise ⁹  the Lord tests ¹⁰  hearts.

Isaiah 48:10

48:10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have purified you ¹¹  in the furnace of misery.

Zechariah 13:9

13:9 Then I will bring the remaining third into the fire;

I will refine them like silver is refined

and will test them like gold is tested.

They will call on my name and I will answer;

I will say, ‘These are my people,’

and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” ¹² 

Zechariah 13:1

The Refinement of Judah

13:1 “In that day there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty ¹³  of David and the people of Jerusalem ¹⁴  to cleanse them from sin and impurity. ¹⁵ 

Colossians 3:13

3:13 bearing with one another and forgiving ¹⁶  one another, if someone happens to have ¹⁷  a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. ¹⁸ 

Revelation 3:18

3:18 take my advice ¹⁹  and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me ²⁰  white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness ²¹  will not be exposed, and buy eye salve ²²  to put on your eyes so you can see!

¹ tn Or “do not be surprised, taken aback.” The same verb occurs in 4:4.

² tn Grk “at the burning among you, occurring to you for testing.”

³ tn The expression דֶּרֶךְ עִמָּדִי (derekh ’immadi) means “the way with me,” i.e., “the way that I take.” The Syriac has “my way and my standing.” Several commentators prefer “the way of my standing,” meaning where to look for me. J. Reider offers “the way of my life” (“Some notes to the text of the scriptures,” HUCA 3 [1926]: 115). Whatever the precise wording, Job knows that God can always find him.

⁴ tn There is a perfect verb followed by an imperfect in this clause with the protasis and apodosis relationship (see GKC 493 §159.b).

⁵ tn Or “indeed.”

⁶ sn The noun מַצְרֵף (matsref) means “a place or instrument for refining” (cf. ASV, NASB “the refining pot”). The related verb, which means “to melt, refine, smelt,” is used in scripture literally for refining and figuratively for the Lord’s purifying and cleansing and testing people.

⁷ tn The term “refining” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

⁸ sn The term כּוּר (cur) describes a “furnace” or “smelting pot.” It can be used figuratively for the beneficial side of affliction (Isa 48:10).

⁹ tn Heb “and.” Most English versions treat this as an adversative (“but”).

¹⁰ sn The participle בֹּחֵן (bokhen, “tests”) in this emblematic parallelism takes on the connotations of the crucible and the furnace. When the Lord “tests” human hearts, the test, whatever form it takes, is designed to improve the value of the one being tested. Evil and folly will be removed when such testing takes place.

¹¹ tc The Hebrew text has בְּחַרְתִּיךָ (bÿkhartikha, “I have chosen you”), but the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads correctly בחנתיכה (“I have tested you”). The metallurgical background of the imagery suggests that purification through testing is the idea.

¹² sn The expression I will say ‘It is my people,’ and they will say ‘the Lord is my God’ is reminiscent of the restoration of Israel predicted by Hosea, who said that those who had been rejected as God’s people would be reclaimed and once more become his sons and daughters (Hos 2:23).

¹³ tn Heb “house” (so NIV, NRSV), referring to dynastic descendants.

¹⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁵ tn Heb “for sin and for impurity.” The purpose implied here has been stated explicitly in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶ tn For the translation of χαριζόμενοι (carizomenoi) as “forgiving,” see BDAG 1078 s.v. χαρίζομαι 3. The two participles “bearing” (ἀνεχόμενοι, anecomenoi) and “forgiving” (χαριζόμενοι) express the means by which the action of the finite verb “clothe yourselves” is to be carried out.

¹⁷ tn Grk “if someone has”; the term “happens,” though not in the Greek text, is inserted to bring out the force of the third class condition.

¹⁸ tn The expression “forgive others” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. It is included in the translation to make the sentence complete and more comprehensible to the English reader.

¹⁹ tn Grk “I counsel you to buy.”

²⁰ tn Grk “rich, and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation, repeating the words “Buy from me” to make the connection clear for the English reader.

²¹ tn Grk “the shame of the nakedness of you,” which has been translated as an attributed genitive like καινότητι ζωῆς (kainothti zwh") in Rom 6:4 (ExSyn 89-90).

²² sn The city of Laodicea had a famous medical school and exported a powder (called a “Phrygian powder”) that was widely used as an eye salve. It was applied to the eyes in the form of a paste the consistency of dough (the Greek term for the salve here, κολλούριον, kollourion [Latin collyrium], is a diminutive form of the word for a long roll of bread).