However in [the business of] the ambassadors of the princes of Bavel, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
Some of those who are wise shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for the time appointed.
I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, 'It is my people;' and they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'*
You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his mitzvot, or not.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the patience of Iyov, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.