To refine
צָרַףStrong’s H6884tsaraph (tsa-raph)
Appears in 29 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Tsaraph is the Hebrew word usually translated “refined”, “metalsmith” and “so i may test it”. It appears in 29 verses of the Old Testament.
“And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.”
Meaning
- To smelt, refine, test(Qal) · (Niphal) to be refined · (Piel) to be a refiner
How it's translated
- refined 5
- a metalsmith 3
- metalsmith 2
- so i may test it 1
- to the silversmith 1
- goldsmiths 1
- the goldsmiths 1
- you have tested me 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Psalms 7
- Isaiah 5
- Jeremiah 5
- Judges 2
- Nehemiah 2
- Proverbs 2
10 books in all.
Related words
Explore in Scripture
- Daniel 12:10In contextMany shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
- Zechariah 13:9In contextAnd I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
- Judges 7:4And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
- Judges 17:4Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
- 2 Samuel 22:31As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.
- Nehemiah 3:8Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths. Next unto him also repaired Hananiah the son of one of the apothecaries, and they fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall.
Hebrew dictionary
צָרַף tsaraph · to refine
1) to smelt, refine, test 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to smelt, refine 1a2) to test 1a3) to test (and prove true) 1a4) smelter, refiner, goldsmith (participle) 1b) (Niphal) to be refined 1c) (Piel) to be a refiner 1c1) refiner (participle)
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “refine” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
REFI'NE, verb transitive
- To purify; in a general sense; applied to liquors, to depurate; to defecate; to clarify; to separate, as liquor, from all extraneous matter.
- Applied to metals, to separate the metallic substance from all other matter, whether another metal or alloy, or any earthy substance; in short, to detach the pure metal from all extraneous matter.“I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined” Zechariah 13:9
- To purify, as manners, from what is gross, clownish or vulgar; to polish; to make elegant.
- To purify, as language, by removing vulgar words and barbarisms.
All definitions and other forms of “refine”
- To purify, as taste; to give a nice and delicate perception of beauty and propriety in literature and the arts.
- To purify, as the mind or moral principles; to give or implant in the mind a nice perception of truth, justice and propriety in commerce and social intercourse.
REFI'NE, verb intransitive
- To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or in any thing that constitutes excellence.
- to become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter.
- To affect nicety.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.