tsaraf · refine, test

What it means

tsaraf (צָרַף) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “refine, test”.

Refine: pass metal through the fire to remove the dross. Figuratively, test a person to see what he is like.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To melt metal in fire to remove its dross; also, the one who works silver or gold.
2. To test people as silver is purified.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• refined ×10
• goldsmith ×7
• refine ×5
• refiner ×3
• as one refines ×2
• refining goes on and on ×2
• silversmiths ×2
• I will smelt away ×1
• silversmith ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Judges×2
• 2 Samuel×1
• Nehemiah×2
• Psalms×8
• Proverbs×2
• Isaiah×6
• Jeremiah×6
• Daniel×2
• Zechariah×2
• Malachi×2

• Judges 7:4

  YHWH said to Gideon, “The people are still many. Bring them down to the water, and I will refine them for you there. And it will be that whoever I say to you, ‘This one will go with you,’ he will go with you; and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one will not go with you,’ he will not go.”

• Judges 17:4

  So he returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave it to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a cast image; and it was in the house of Micaiah.

• 2 Samuel 22:31

  The El —blameless is his way; the saying of YHWH is refined; he is a shield to all who take refuge in him.

• Nehemiah 3:8

  Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the silversmiths, repaired; and next to him Hananiah, a son of the perfumers, repaired; and they left Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.

• Nehemiah 3:32

  And between the upper room of the corner and the Sheep Gate the silversmiths and the traders repaired.

• Psalms 12:6

  The sayings of YHWH are pure sayings, silver refined in a crucible of earth, purified seven times.

• Psalms 17:3

  You have tested my heart, you have inspected it by night, you have refined me; you will find nothing; I have resolved: my mouth will not overstep.

• Psalms 18:30

  The El —blameless is his way; the saying of YHWH is refined; he is a shield to all who take refuge in him.

• Psalms 26:2

  Examine me, YHWH, and put me to the test; refine my kidneys and my heart.

• Psalms 66:10

  For you have tested us, Elohim; you have refined us as one refines silver.

• Psalms 105:19

  until the time his word came; the saying of YHWH refined him.

• Psalms 119:140

  Your saying is thoroughly refined, and your servant loves it.

• Proverbs 25:4

  Remove the dross from the silver, and a vessel will come out for the refiner;

• Proverbs 30:5

  Every saying of Eloah is refined; a shield is he to those who take refuge in him.

• Isaiah 1:25

  And I will turn my hand against you, and I will smelt away as with lye your dross, and I will remove all your tin.

• Isaiah 40:19

  The carved image? A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and chains of silver the goldsmith casts.

• Isaiah 41:7

  And the craftsman encourages the goldsmith, he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and he fastens it with nails, so that it will not totter.

• Isaiah 46:6

  Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh silver on the rod of the scale, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; they fall down, also they bow down.

• Isaiah 48:10

  Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

• Jeremiah 6:29

  The bellows blow fiercely; by the fire the lead is consumed; in vain the refining goes on and on, and the evil are not drawn off.

• Jeremiah 9:7

  Therefore thus says YHWH Tsevaot: “Look, I will refine them and assay them, for how else can I act because of the daughter of my people?

• Jeremiah 10:9

  Silver beaten flat is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith; blue and purple is their clothing, the work of wise men all of them.

• Jeremiah 10:14

  Every human being has become dull, without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image, for his cast image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

• Jeremiah 51:17

  Every human being has become dull, without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image, for his cast image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

• Daniel 11:35

  And some of the insightful will stumble, to refine them and to purify and to make them white, until the time of the end; for it is yet for the appointed time.

• Daniel 12:10

  Many will be purified and made white and refined; and the wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but the insightful will understand.

• Zechariah 13:9

  And I will bring the third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as one tests gold. He will call on my name, and I will answer him; I will say, ‘He is my people’; and he will say, ‘YHWH is my Elohim.’”

• Malachi 3:2

  And who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the fire of a refiner and like the lye of launderers.

• Malachi 3:3

  And he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he will purify the sons of Levi and purge them like gold and like silver, and they will be for YHWH those who offer an offering in righteousness.

And 4 more times.