Bible Strands
Psalms 17:3
You have tried my heart; You have visited me in the night. You have tested me and found no evil; I have resolved not to sin with my mouth.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses YHWH in a plea for vindication, asserting that God's own examination has cleared him of guilt.
The words — צָרַף (tze.raf.Ta), "you have tested," is a metallurgical term meaning to refine or assay metal, and it is deliberately paired with the more general בָּחַן (ba.chan.ta) in the same verse.
The thread — Job 23:10 uses the root בָּחַן for divine testing that produces purity; Psalms 26:2 makes the request explicit: "Test me, O LORD, and try me."
Why it lands — The psalmist does not claim innocence by his own standard but by God's verdict, making the claim only as strong as the examiner. It asks the reader to locate moral self-assessment in divine scrutiny, not self-report.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
Cross-references
- Job 23:10 Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
- Psalms 26:2 Test me, O LORD, and try me; examine my heart and mind.
- Acts 11:23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.
- Psalms 39:1 For the choirmaster. For Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, “I will watch my ways so that I will not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are present.”
- Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
- Psalms 66:10 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.
- Psalms 119:106 I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments.
- Psalms 139:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
- Proverbs 13:3 He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.
- Jeremiah 50:20 In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, a search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for Judah’s sins, but they will not be found; for I will forgive the remnant I preserve.