Proverbs 25:4

Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
away	הָג֣וֹ ha.Go	H1898	to remove · verb, qal infinitive absolute
dross	סִיגִ֣ים si.Gim	H5509	scoria · noun, common masculine plural absolute
silver	מִכָּ֑סֶף mi.Ka.sef	H3701	silver (from its pale color) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
forth	וַיֵּצֵ֖א vai.ye.Tze'	H3318	to go (causatively · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
vessel	כֶּֽלִי Ke.li	H3627	something prepared · noun, common masculine singular absolute
finer	לַצֹּרֵ֣ף la.tzo.Ref	H6884	to fuse (metal) · preposition with the article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

2 Timothy 2:20-21 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishon…
Proverbs 17:3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
Ezekiel 22:18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they ar…
Isaiah 1:25-27 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
Malachi 3:2-3 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 25:4-5

This shows that the vigorous endeavour of a prince to suppress vice, and reform the manners of his people, is the most effectual way to support his government. Observe, 1. what the duty of magistrates is: To take away the wicked, to use their power for the terror of evil works and evil workers, not only to banish those that are vicious and profane from their presence, and forbid them the court, but so to frighten them and restrain them that they may not spread the infection of their wickedness among their subjects. This is called taking away the dross from the silver, which is done by the force of fire. Wicked people are the dross of a nation, the scum of the country, and, as such, to be tak…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 25:4

As separating impurities from ore leaves pure silver, so taking from a king wicked counsellors leaves a wise and beneficent government.

John Gill on Proverbs 25:4

Take away the dross from the silver,.... By putting it into the furnace, and purging it from it: and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer; not out of the furnace, a vessel formed and shaped, but pure silver shall come out of it for the refiner; of which a vessel may be made, very honourable, beautiful, and fit for use: the application of it is in Proverbs 25:5.

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 25:4-5

There now follows an emblematic (vid., vol. i. p. 10) tetrastich: 4 Take away the dross from silver, So there is ready a vessel for the goldsmith; 5 Take away the wicked from the king, And his throne is established by righteousness. The form הגו (cf. the inf. Poal הגו, Isa 59:13) is regarded by Schultens as showing a ground-form הגו; but there is also found e.g., עשׂו, whose ground-form is עשׂי; the verb הגה, R. הג (whence Arab. hajr, discedere), cf. יגה (whence הגה, semovit, Sa2 20:13 = Syr. âwagy, cf. Arab. âwjay, to withhold, to abstain from), signifies to separate, withdraw; here, of the separation of the סיגים, the refuse, i.e., the dross (vid., regarding the plena scriptio, Baer's kr…

The Church Fathers

Remove the dross from the silver, etc. Remove the surface of the letter from the sacred word, and you will find the purest meaning hidden by the subtlety of the letter, and spiritual mysteries were concealed under the figures of carnal ceremonies.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Dross — The impurities of silver separated from the one in the process of melting (Prov. 25:4; 26:23; Ps. 119:119). It is also used to denote the base metal itself, probably before it is smelted, in Isa.…
Finer — A worker in silver and gold (Prov. 25:4). In Judg. 17:4 the word (tsoreph) is rendered “founder,” and in Isa. 41:7 “goldsmith.”
Dross · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Silver · Refining of — Refining of

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 25:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 25:4-5

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 25:4

John Gill on Proverbs 25:4

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 25:4-5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 25:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 25:4-5

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 25:4

John Gill on Proverbs 25:4

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 25:4-5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 25:4-5

Rashi on Proverbs 25:4