Hebrew word · H4715

מַצְרֵף

matzref

crucible

A refining vessel or crucible: the container (usually clay) in which metal is heated so impurities can be separated and the metal's purity revealed. It is built from the root ts-r-f, which covers smelting, refining, purifying and testing metal.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

crucible

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 17:3

Range of meaning

A refining vessel or crucible: the container (usually clay) in which metal is heated so impurities can be separated and the metal's purity revealed. It is built from the root ts-r-f, which covers smelting, refining, purifying and testing metal. A goldsmith or silversmith is a tsorēf (Judges 17:4; Isaiah 40:19).

Against the English

BSB, NIV and ESV say 'crucible'; KJV 'fining pot'; WEB, YLT and NASB 'refining pot'. All are accurate. 'Fining pot' is simply old English for a refining pot.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only here and in Proverbs 27:21, where the same first line is used again ('the crucible for silver, the furnace for gold'), but with a different ending: 'and a person is tested by the praise he receives.' The root verb tsaraf is used of God refining his people in Psalm 66:10 ('you refined us as silver is refined'), Isaiah 48:10, Zechariah 13:9 and Malachi 3:2–3, and of God's words as refined, flawless silver in Psalm 12:6 and Proverbs 30:5.

Where it appears

Proverbs · 2

  1. Proverbs 17:3 מַצְרֵ֣ף a crucible

    A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.

    Here: The clay vessel in which silver was heated to separate it from impurities and find out how pure it was. The word comes from the verb tsaraf, 'to smelt, refine, assay', and appears only here and in the identical line at Proverbs 27:21.

  2. Proverbs 27:21 מַצְרֵ֣ף a crucible

    A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but a man is tested by the praise accorded him.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.