God’s Word Translation
Isaiah 48:10
10I have refined you, but not like silver. I have tested you in the furnace of suffering.
Isaiah 48:10 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
- New International Version (NIV)See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Context of Isaiah 48:10
8You have never heard about them. You have never known about them. Your ears have never been open to hear them before. I know that you’ve acted very treacherously and that you have been called a rebel since you were born. 9For my name’s sake I’ll be patient. For my glory’s sake I’ll hold my anger back from you, rather than destroy you. I have refined you, but not like silver. I have tested you in the furnace of suffering. 11I am doing this for myself, only for myself. Why should my name be dishonored? I will not give my glory to anyone else. 12Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called. I am the one. I am the first and the last.
Read all of Isaiah 48Isaiah 48:10 word by word
הִנֵּ֥ה צְרַפְתִּ֖יךָ וְלֹ֣א בְכָ֑סֶף בְּחַרְתִּ֖יךָ בְּכ֥וּר עֹֽנִי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 48:10
- Isaiah 1:25I will turn my power against you. I will remove your impurities with bleach. I will get rid of all your impurities.
- Job 23:10⌞I can’t find him⌟ because he knows the road I take. When he tests me, I’ll come out as pure as gold.
- Psalms 66:10You have tested us, O God. You have refined us in the same way silver is refined.
- Proverbs 17:3The crucible is for refining silver and the smelter for gold, but the one who purifies hearts ⌞by fire⌟ is the Lord.
- Jeremiah 9:7This is what the Lord of Armies says: I will now refine them with fire and test them. What else can I do for my dear people?
- Ezekiel 20:38I will get rid of rebels and those who do wrong against me. I will bring you out of the land where you are living. You will never enter Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
- Ezekiel 22:18“Son of man, the people of Israel have become worthless to me. All of them are like copper, tin, iron, and lead in a smelting furnace. They are like the impurities left from silver.
- Zechariah 13:8The Lord declares, “Throughout the land two-thirds will be cut off and die. Yet, one-third will be left in it.
- Malachi 3:2But who will be able to endure the day he comes? Who will be able to survive on the day he appears? He is like a purifying fire and like a cleansing soap.
- Hebrews 12:10For a short time our fathers disciplined us as they thought best. Yet, God disciplines us for our own good so that we can become holy like him.
- 1 Peter 1:7The purpose of these troubles is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold is. Your faith is more precious than gold, and by passing the test, it gives praise, glory, and honor to God. This will happen when Jesus Christ appears again.
- 1 Peter 4:12Dear friends, don’t be surprised by the fiery troubles that are coming in order to test you. Don’t feel as though something strange is happening to you,
- Revelation 3:19I correct and discipline everyone I love. Take this seriously, and change the way you think and act.
- Deuteronomy 4:20But you are the people the Lord brought out of Egypt, the iron smelter, in order to make you his own people as you still are today.
Commentaries on Isaiah 48:10
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 10I 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…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 10Behold, 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…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 9-15Verses 9-15 We have nothing ourselves to plead with God, why he should have mercy upon us. It is for his praise, to the honour of his mercy, to spare. His bringing men into trouble was to do them good. It was to refine them, but not as silver; not so thoroughly as men refine silver. If God should take that course, they are all dross, and, as such, might justly be put away. He takes them as refined in part only. Many have been brought home to God as chosen…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 10The exile in Babylon was a period of intense suffering (compare Deuteronomy 4:20) that God used to purify Israel.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1010. (See on Is 1:25). with silver--rather, "for silver." I sought by affliction to purify thee, but thou wast not as silver obtained by melting, but as dross [Gesenius]. Thy repentance is not complete: thou art not yet as refined silver. Rosenmuller explains, "not as silver," not with the intense heat needed to melt silver (it being harder to melt than gold), that is, not with the most extreme severity. The former view is better (Is 1:25; 42:25; Eze…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 48:10
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 48
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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