Remember that they are your people. Remember that you brought them out of Egypt. It was like you saved them by pulling them out of a hot oven!
Isaiah 48:10 - Easy To Read Version “Look, I will make you pure.\par People use a hot fire to make silver pure.\par But I will make you pure\par by giving you troubles.\par Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried and chosen you in the furnace of affliction. American Standard Version (1901) Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. Common English Bible See, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tested you in the furnace of misery. Catholic Public Domain Version Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver. I have chosen you for the furnace of poverty. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver: I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty. |
Remember that they are your people. Remember that you brought them out of Egypt. It was like you saved them by pulling them out of a hot oven!
But God knows me.\par He is testing me and he will see\par that I am as pure as gold.\par
“There are mines where people get silver\par and places where people\par melt gold to make it pure.\par
Gold and silver are put into fire to make them pure. But the Lord is the One who makes peoples’ hearts pure.
How will Jacob’s guilt be forgiven? What will happen so his sins can be taken away? \{These things will happen\}: The rocks of the altar will be crushed to dust; the statues {\cf2\super [251]} and altars {\cf2\super [252]} for worshiping false gods will all be destroyed.
I am talking about the Agreement I made with your ancestors. {\cf2\super [88]} I made that Agreement with them at the time I brought them out of Egypt. \{Egypt was a place of many troubles—\}it was like an oven hot enough to melt iron. I told those people: Obey me and do everything I command you. If you do this, you will be my people, and I will be your God.
So, the Lord All-Powerful says:\par “A worker heats metal in a fire\par to test if it is pure.\par I will test the people of Judah like that.\par I have no other choice.\par My people have sinned.\par
I will remove all the people that turned against me and sinned against me. I will remove those people from your homeland. They will never again come to the Land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
But the Lord brought you out of Egypt and made you his own special people. It was as if the Lord reached into a hot furnace for melting iron and pulled you out of that fire. And now you are his people!
Why do these troubles happen? To prove that your faith is pure (true). This purity of faith is worth more than gold. Gold can be proved to be pure by fire, but gold will ruin. The purity of your faith will bring you praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ appears (comes).
My friends, don’t be surprised at the painful things that you are now suffering. Those things are testing your faith. Don’t think that something strange is happening to you.
“I correct and punish those people that I love. So start trying hard! Change your hearts and lives!