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

A craftsman casts ¹  an idol; a metalsmith overlays it with gold and forges silver chains for it.

The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely. But there is too much dross to be removed. ¹  The process of refining them has proved useless. ²  The wicked have not been purged.

Examine me, O Lord, and test me! Evaluate my inner thoughts and motives! ¹ 

Your word is absolutely pure, and your servant loves it!

Remove the dross from the silver, and material ¹  for the silversmith will emerge;

And between the room above the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and traders worked.

until the time when his prediction ¹  came true. The Lord’s word ²  proved him right. ³ 

Every word of God is purified; ¹  he is like ²  a shield for those who take refuge in him. ³ 

Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have purified you ¹  in the furnace of misery.

The one true God acts in a faithful manner; ¹  the Lord’s promise is reliable; ²  he is a shield to all who take shelter in him.

The Lord’s words are absolutely reliable. ¹  They are as untainted as silver purified in a furnace on the ground, where it is thoroughly refined. ² 

You have scrutinized my inner motives; ¹  you have examined me during the night. ²  You have carefully evaluated me, but you find no sin. I am determined I will say nothing sinful. ³ 

The one true God acts in a faithful manner; ¹  the Lord’s promise ²  is reliable; ³  he is a shield to all who take shelter ⁴  in him.

I will attack you; ¹  I will purify your metal with flux. ²  I will remove all your slag. ³ 

Many will be purified, made clean, and refined, but the wicked will go on being wicked. None of the wicked will understand, though the wise will understand.

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.’” ¹ 

When he gave the silver back to his mother, she ¹  took two hundred pieces of silver ²  to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah’s house. ³ 

The craftsman encourages the metalsmith, the one who wields the hammer encourages ¹  the one who pounds on the anvil. He approves the quality of the welding, ²  and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

Those who empty out gold from a purse and weigh out silver on the scale ¹  hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god. They then bow down and worship it.