Even so with the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, those sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had been in the land, God left him to test him, to know all his heart.
And many of those who ponder shall stumble, to refine and to purge them, and to make white to the time of the end; for it is yet for the appointed time.
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined. And I will test them as gold is tested. They shall call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, It is My people, and they shall say, Jehovah is my God.
And you shall remember all the way which Jehovah your God has caused you to go these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, to try you, to know that which is in your heart, whether you will keep His commands or not.
These all died by way of faith, not having received the promises, but seeing them from afar, and being persuaded, and having welcomed them and confessed that they are strangers and sojourning ones on the earth.
Behold, we call blessed the ones enduring. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you saw the end of the Lord, “that the Lord is full of compassion and merciful.” Psa. 103:8
Because you kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep you out of the hour of trial, the one being about to come on the whole inhabited earth in order to try the ones dwelling on the earth.