the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Complete Jewish Bible
Isaiah 48:10
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- DailyParallel Translations
Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
I have made you pure, but not by fire, as silver is made pure. I have purified you by giving you troubles.
"Indeed, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested and chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
Behold, I haue fined thee, but not as siluer: I haue chosen thee in the fornace of affliction.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
I tested you in hard times just as silver is refined in a heated furnace.
Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
"Look, I will make you pure, but not in the way you make silver pure. I will make you pure by giving you troubles.
Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have purified you in the furnace of affliction.
I have tested you in the fire of suffering, as silver is refined in a furnace. But I have found that you are worthless.
Look! I have refined you, but not like silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of misery.
Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
Beholde I haue pourged the, and not for moneye. I haue chosen the in the fyre of pouerte,
Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
See, I have been testing you for myself like silver; I have put you through the fire of trouble.
Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have tried thee in the furnace of affliction.
Behold, I haue refined thee, but not with siluer; I haue chosen thee in the fornace of affliction.
Beholde I haue purged thee, yet not as siluer, I haue chosen thee in the fire of affliction.
Behold, I have sold thee, but not for silver; but I have rescued thee from the furnace of affliction.
Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Lo! Y haue sode thee, but not as siluer; Y chees thee in the chymeney of pouert.
Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have purified you in the furnace of misery.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.
See, I have tested you, but not as silver. I have tested you in the fire of suffering.
See, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tested you in the furnace of adversity.
Lo! I have refined thee, but not as silver, - I have tested thee, in a smelting-pot of affliction.
Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty.
Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
Lo, I have refined thee, and not with silver, I have chosen thee in a furnace of affliction.
"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
I have refined: Isaiah 1:25, Isaiah 1:26, Job 23:10, Psalms 66:10, Proverbs 17:3, Jeremiah 9:7, Ezekiel 20:38, Ezekiel 22:18-22, Zechariah 13:8, Zechariah 13:9, Malachi 3:2, Malachi 3:3, Hebrews 12:10, Hebrews 12:11, 1 Peter 1:7, 1 Peter 4:12, Revelation 3:19
with silver: or, for silver
I have chosen: Deuteronomy 4:20
Reciprocal: Job 6:9 - that he would Job 28:1 - where they fine it Isaiah 27:9 - this therefore Jeremiah 11:4 - iron
Cross-References
In the course of time, after Yitz'chak had grown old and his eyes dim, so that he couldn't see, he called ‘Esav his older son and said to him, "My son?" and he answered, "Here I am."
He approached and kissed him. Yitz'chak smelled his clothes and blessed Ya‘akov with these words: "See, my son smells like a field which Adonai has blessed.
But then he heard what Lavan's sons were saying: "Ya‘akov has taken away everything that our father once had. It's from what used to belong to our father that he has gotten so rich." He also saw that Lavan regarded him differently than before. Adonai said to Ya‘akov, "Return to the land of your ancestors, to your kinsmen; I will be with you." So Ya‘akov sent for Rachel and Le'ah and had them come to the field where his flock was. He said to them, "I see by the way your father looks that he feels differently toward me than before; but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I have served your father with all my strength, and that your father has belittled me and has changed my wages ten times; but God did not allow him to do me any damage. If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,' then all the animals gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,' then all the animals gave birth to streaked young. This is how God has taken away your father's animals and given them to me. Once, when the animals were mating, I had a dream: I looked up and there in front of me the male goats which mated with the females were streaked, speckled and mottled. Then, in the dream, the angel of God said to me, ‘Ya‘akov!' and I replied, ‘Here I am.' He continued, ‘Raise your eyes now, and look: all the male goats mating with the females are streaked, speckled and mottled; for I have seen everything Lavan has been doing to you. I am the God of Beit-El, where you anointed a standing-stone with oil, where you vowed your vow to me. Now get up, get out of this land, and return to the land where you were born.'" Rachel and Le'ah answered him, "We no longer have any inheritance from our father's possessions; and he considers us foreigners, since he has sold us; moreover, he has consumed everything he received in exchange for us. Nevertheless, the wealth which God has taken away from our father has become ours and our children's anyway; so whatever God has told you to do, do." (vi) Then Ya‘akov got up, put his sons and wives on the camels, and carried off all his livestock, along with all the riches he had accumulated, the livestock in his possession which he had acquired in Paddan-Aram, to go to Yitz'chak his father in the land of Kena‘an. Now Lavan had gone to shear his sheep, so Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father, and Ya‘akov outwitted Lavan the Arami by not telling him of his intended flight. So he fled with everything he had: he departed, crossed the [Euphrates] River and set out for the hill-country of Gil‘ad. Not until the third day was Lavan told that Ya‘akov had fled. Lavan took his kinsmen with him and spent the next seven days pursuing Ya‘akov, overtaking him in the hill-country of Gil‘ad. But God came to Lavan the Arami in a dream that night and said to him, "Be careful that you don't say anything to Ya‘akov, either good or bad." When Lavan caught up with Ya‘akov, Ya‘akov had set up camp in the hill-country; so Lavan and his kinsmen set up camp in the hill-country of Gil‘ad. Lavan said to Ya‘akov, "What do you mean by deceiving me and carrying off my daughters as if they were captives taken in war? Why did you flee in secret and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you off with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and lyres. You didn't even let me kiss my sons and daughters good-bye! What a stupid thing to do! I have it in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night and said, ‘Be careful that you don't say anything to Ya‘akov, either good or bad.' Granted that you had to leave, because you longed so deeply for your father's house; but why did you steal my gods?" Ya‘akov answered Lavan, "Because I was afraid. I said, ‘Suppose you take your daughters away from me by force?' But if you find your gods with someone, that person will not remain alive. So with our kinsmen to witness, if you spot anything that I have which belongs to you, take it back." Ya‘akov did not know that Rachel had stolen them. Lavan went into Ya‘akov's tent, then into Le'ah's tent and into the tent of the two slave-girls; but he did not find them. He left Le'ah's tent and entered Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the household gods, put them in the saddle of the camel and was sitting on them. Lavan felt all around the tent but did not find them. She said to her father, "Please don't be angry that I'm not getting up in your presence, but it's the time of my period." So he searched, but he didn't find the household gods. Then Ya‘akov became angry and started arguing with Lavan. "What have I done wrong?" he demanded. "What is my offense, that you have come after me in hot pursuit? You have felt around in all my stuff, but what have you found of all your household goods? Put it here, in front of my kinsmen and yours, so that they can render judgment between the two of us! I have been with you for these twenty years! Your female sheep and goats haven't aborted their young, and I haven't eaten the male animals in your flocks. If one of your flock was destroyed by a wild animal, I didn't bring the carcass to you but bore the loss myself. You demanded that I compensate you for any animal stolen, whether by day or by night. Here's how it was for me: during the day thirst consumed me, and at night the cold — my sleep fled from my eyes. These twenty years I've been in your house — I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock; and you changed my wages ten times! If the God of my father, the God of Avraham, the one whom Yitz'chak fears, had not been on my side, by now you would certainly have already sent me away with nothing! God has seen how distressed I've been and how hard I've worked, and last night he passed judgment in my favor." (vii) Lavan answered Ya‘akov, "The daughters are mine, the children are mine, the flocks are mine, and everything you see is mine! But what can I do today about these daughters of mine or the children they have borne? So now, come, let's make a covenant, I and you; and let it stand as a testimony between me and you." Ya‘akov took a stone and set it upright as a standing-stone. Then Ya‘akov said to his kinsmen, "Gather some stones"; and they took stones, made a pile of them and ate there by the pile of stones. Lavan called it Y'gar-Sahaduta ["pile of witness" in Aramaic], while Ya‘akov called it Gal-‘Ed ["pile of witness" in Hebrew]. Lavan said, "This pile witnesses between me and you today." This is why it is called Gal-‘Ed and also HaMitzpah [the watchtower], because he said, "May Adonai watch between me and you when we are apart from each other. If you cause pain to my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, then, even if no one is there with us, still God is witness between me and you." Lavan also said to Ya‘akov, "Here is this pile, and here is this standing-stone, which I have set up between me and you. May this pile be a witness, and may the standing-stone be a witness, that I will not pass beyond this pile to you, and you will not pass beyond this pile and this standing-stone to me, to cause harm. May the God of Avraham and also the god of Nachor, the god of their father, judge between us." But Ya‘akov swore by the One his father Yitz'chak feared. Ya‘akov offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his kinsmen to the meal. They ate the food and spent the whole night on the mountain.
and he kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that, his brothers talked with him.
Once, during that period, ‘Eli had gone to bed — his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that it was hard for him to see.
‘Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed, because he was blind.
He left the oxen, ran after Eliyahu and said, "Please let me kiss my father and mother good-bye; then I will follow you." He answered, "Go; but return, because of what I did to you."
"Make the heart of this people [sluggish with] fat, stop up their ears, and shut their eyes. Otherwise, seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, then understanding with their hearts, they might repent and be healed!"
Adonai 's arm is not too short to save, nor is his ear too dull to hear.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver,.... But it is not usual to refine with silver; not silver with silver, nor any other metal with it; that itself is what is refined; this therefore cannot be the sense of the words; wherefore they are, by others, differently rendered; by some, "not in silver" d; not in a furnace of silver, as Aben Ezra; "but in a furnace of poverty", as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions render the next clause; and to the same sense the Targum; that is, I have tried, and purified, and refined thee, not by prosperity, but adversity; not with riches, which has its snares, temptations, trials, and exercises, but with poverty, which also has the same, or greater; and therefore Agur desired neither,
Proverbs 30:8. By others, "but not into silver" e, so as to make silver of them, whereby all the labour was lost; but this is contrary to the following clause: by others, "not for the sake of silver" f; so the Septuagint version; or for the gain of it, as the Arabic; which sense suggests that God was no gainer by their afflictions; what he did was freely, without money or price, and all the use and profit were to themselves; see Psalms 44:12. Others think, that instead of "beth", "in", it should be "caph", "as", a note of similitude, and be rendered, "but not as silver" g: but that the text is corrupted, and ought to be thus altered, there is no authority for it, and besides is contrary to several express passages of Scripture, Psalms 66:10. Rather therefore it should be rendered, "but not among silver" h; along with that, which requires a fierce fire, is kept in the furnace or melting pot until all the dross is consumed: but if God was to afflict his people to such a degree, they would not be able to bear it; and if they were to continue under his afflicting hand till all their dross, sin, and corruption were removed, they would be utterly consumed; was he to contend, or be wroth for ever, the spirit would fail before him, and the souls that he has made; wherefore he does not afflict in this fierce and furious manner, but gently and gradually, in measure, in mercy, and not in strict justice,
1 Corinthians 10:13 and by such gentle means he refines and brightens the graces of his people, tries and proves their principles and profession, and reforms their manners: I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction; such was the affliction of Israel in Egypt, called the iron furnace, Deuteronomy 4:20 and as God has his furnace to punish and consume his enemies, so he has his furnace to try, purge, and purify his people, Isaiah 31:9, and which is a fiery one, and very grievous and distressing, especially when the wrath of God is apprehended in it, though fury is not in him: when he afflicts, it is all in love, and therefore is said to choose his people at such a time; which is to be understood not of their election to grace and glory; for that is not done in time, but in eternity, and is of them, not as transgressor, or as in the corrupt mass, but as in the pure mass of creatureship: rather of calling, which is the fruit, and effect, and evidence of election, and is expressed by choosing, John 15:19, and sometimes afflictions have been the means of it; or God has in them, or by them, brought them to himself, as he did Manasseh: but it seems best of all to understand it of the manifestation of election; God sometimes under afflictive providences appears to his people, and tells them that he has loved them with an everlasting love, and assures them that they are his chosen ones; he knows their souls, and owns them as his own in their adversities; besides, in afflicting them, he deals with them as his children and chosen ones; and because they are so, he takes the pains he does with them, which he does not with others, to purge and purify them, Psalms 31:7. Moreover, he makes them choice and excellent persons by afflictions; they come forth out of them as choice silver and pure gold; they gain thereby many choice experiences of the love and grace of God, and of the truths of the Gospel, and of the promises of it: afflicted saints are commonly the choicest believers; they become thriving and flourishing Christians, humble and Holy Ones; more fit for their master's use, more weaned from the world, and wrought up for heaven and happiness. Some, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra, render the words, "I have chosen for thee the furnace of affliction" i, or "thee for the furnace of affliction"; afflictions are chosen and appointed for the people of God, and they are chosen for and appointed unto affliction,
Job 23:14. Some, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe, by the change of a letter, read "bachantica", "have proved thee", or "tried thee", instead of "bachartica", "I have chosen thee"; but without any reason.
d בכסף "in argento", Montanus; "in fornace argenti", Vatablus. e "Non in argentum", Grotius. f ουκ ενεκεν αργυριου, Sept. "non pro pecunia", Tigurine version. g "Quasi argentum", V. L. "tanquam argentum", Munster, Pagninus, Calvin. h "Inter argentum", Syr. i בחרתיך ככור עני "elegi tibi, [sive] pro te fornacem affictionis", Gataker,
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Behold, I have refined thee - This refers to the Jews in their afflictions and captivity in Babylon. It states one design which he had in view in these afflictions - to purify them. The word used here, and rendered ‘refined’ (צרף tsâraph), means properly to melt; to smelt metals; to subject them to the action of fire, in order to remove the scoria or dross from them (see the notes at Isaiah 1:25). Then it means to purify in any manner. Here it means that God had used these afflictions for the same purpose for which fire is used in regard to metals, in order that every impurity in their moral and religious character might be removed.
But not with silver - Margin, ‘For.’ Hebrew, בכסף bekâseph. Many different interpretations of this have been proposed. Jerome renders it, Non quasi argentum - ‘Not as silver.’ The Septuagint, Οὐχ ἕνεκεν ἀργυρίου ouch heneken arguriou - ‘Not on account of silver.’ Grotius explains it, ‘I have a long time tried thee by afflictions, but nothing good appears in thee;’ that is, I have not found you to be silver, or to be pure, as when a worker in metals applies the usual heat to a mass of ore for the purpose of separating the dross, and obtains no silver. Gesenius explains it to mean, ‘I sought to make you better by afflictions, but the end was not reached; you were not as silver which is obtained by melting, but as dross.’ Rosenmuller supposes it means, that he had not tried them with that intensity of heat which was necessary to melt and refine silver; and remarks, that those skilled in metals observe that gold is easily liquified, but that silver requires a more intense heat to purify it. Jarchi renders it, ‘Not by the fire of Gehenna as silver is melted by the fire.’ Kimchi explains it, ‘Not as one who is smelting silver, and who removes all the scoria from it, and so consumes it that nothing but pure silver remains. If that had been done, but few of you would have been left.’ Vitringa supposes that it means, that God had sent them to Babylon to be purified, yet it was not to be done with silver. It was by the agency of a people who were wicked, sinful, and unbelieving. Amidst this variety of interpretation, it is difficult to determine the sense. Probably it may be, I have melted thee, and found no silver; or the result has not been that you have been shown to be pure by all your trials; and thus it will agree with what is said above, that they were perverse, false, and rebellious as a people.
I have chosen thee - Lowth renders this, ‘I have tried thee.’ The Vulgate and the Septuagint, however, render it, ‘I have chosen thee.’ The word used here (from בחר bâchar) means, according to Gesenius:
1. To prove, to try, to examine; and the primary idea, according to him, is that of rubbing with the lapis Lydius, or touchstone, or else of cutting in pieces for the purpose of examining.
2. To approve, choose, or select. This is the most common signification in the Hebrew Bible Genesis 13:11; Exodus 17:9; Joshua 24:15; Job 9:14; Job 15:5; Job 29:25.
3. To delight in Genesis 6:2; Isaiah 1:29. Probably the meaning here is, ‘I have proved or tried thee in the furnace of affliction.’ It was true, however, that God had chosen or selected their nation to be his people when they were suffering in the furnace of affliction in Egypt; and it is also true that God chooses sinners now, or converts them, as the result of heavy affliction. Possibly this may be the idea, that their affliction had prepared them to embrace his offers and to seek consolation in him; and he may design to teach that one effect of affliction is to prepare the mind to embrace the offers of mercy.
In the furnace of affliction - Referring particularly to their trials in Babylon. Afflictions are often likened to fire - from the fact that fire is used to purify or try metals, and afflictions have the same object in reference to the people of God.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Isaiah 48:10. I have chosen thee - "I have tried thee"] For בחרתיך becharticha, "I have chosen thee," a MS. has בחנתיך bechanticha, "I have tried thee." And so perhaps read the Syriac and Chaldee interpreters; they retain the same word בחרתך bechartach; but in those languages it signifies, I have tried thee. ככסף kecheseph, quasi argentum, "as silver." Vulgate.
I cannot think בכסף becheseph, WITH silver, is the true reading. ככסף kecheseph, LIKE silver, as the Vulgate evidently read it, I suppose to have been the original reading, though no MS. yet found supports this word; the similarity of the two letters, ב beth and כ caph, might have easily led to the mistake in the first instance; and it has been but too faithfully copied ever since. כור cur, which we translate furnace, should be rendered crucible, the vessel in which the silver is melted. The meaning of the verse seems to be this: I have purified you, but not as silver is purified; for when it is purified, no dross of any kind is left behind. Had I done this with you, I should have consumed you altogether; but I have put you in the crucible of affliction, in captivity, that you may acknowledge your sins, and turn unto me.
