I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds. I examine people’s hearts. ¹  I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

O Lord who rules over all, ¹  you test and prove the righteous. You see into people’s hearts and minds. ²  Pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

Happy is the one ¹  who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God ²  promised to those who love him.

Yet they challenged and defied ¹  the sovereign God, ²  and did not obey ³  his commands. ⁴ 

And these also must be tested first and then let them serve as deacons if they are found blameless.

Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. ¹  Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.” ² 

The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men. ¹  Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more. ²  When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go; ³  when I say, ⁴  ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.” ⁵ 

(Now they were asking this in an attempt to trap him, so that they could bring charges against ¹  him.) ²  Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. ³ 

‘I know your works as well as your ¹  labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate ²  evil. You have even put to the test ³  those who refer to themselves as apostles (but are not), and have discovered that they are false.

May the evil deeds of the wicked ¹  come to an end! ²  But make the innocent ³  secure, ⁴  O righteous God, you who examine ⁵  inner thoughts and motives! ⁶ 

Another ¹  said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, ²  and I am going out ³  to examine them. Please excuse me.’

I am not saying this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love by comparison with the eagerness of others. ¹ 

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He had received the promises, ¹  yet he was ready to offer up ²  his only son.

Remember the whole way by which he ¹  has brought you these forty years through the desert ²  so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

For ¹  you, O God, tested us; you purified us like refined silver.

The one who tells the truth ¹  will endure forever, but the one who lies ²  will last only for a moment. ³ 

So the warden ¹  agreed to their proposal ²  and tested them for ten ³  days.

As for teqel – you are weighed on the balances and found to be lacking.

After he fasted forty days and forty nights he was famished. ¹ 

Then the devil left him, and angels ¹  came and began ministering to his needs.