35 Bible Verses about Proving, Through Testing

Most Relevant Verses

Zechariah 13:8-9

In the whole land—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
two-thirds will be cut off and die,
but a third will be left in it.
I will put this third through the fire;
I will refine them as silver is refined
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
and I will answer them.
I will say: They are My people,
and they will say: Yahweh is our God.”

Psalm 66:10-12

For You, God, tested us;
You refined us as silver is refined.
You lured us into a trap;
You placed burdens on our backs.
You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but You brought us out to abundance.

Proverbs 17:3

A crucible for silver, and a smelter for gold,
and the Lord is the tester of hearts.

Jeremiah 6:27-30

I have appointed you to be an assayer among My people—
a refiner—
so you may know and assay their way of life.
All are stubborn rebels
spreading slander.
They are bronze and iron;
all of them are corrupt.
The bellows blow,
blasting the lead with fire.
The refining is completely in vain;
the evil ones are not separated out.
read more.
They are called rejected silver,
for the Lord has rejected them.

Jeremiah 9:7

Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says:

I am about to refine them and test them,
for what else can I do
because of My dear people?

Exodus 16:4

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow My instructions.

Exodus 15:25-26

So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable.

He made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah and He tested them there. He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you.”

Deuteronomy 8:2-5

Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these 40 years. read more.
Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

Judges 2:22

I did this to test Israel and to see whether they would keep the Lord’s way by walking in it, as their fathers had.”

Judges 3:1-4

These are the nations the Lord left in order to test Israel, since the Israelites had fought none of these in any of the wars with Canaan. This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before. These nations included: the five rulers of the Philistines and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath. read more.
The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord’s commands He had given their fathers through Moses.

1 Chronicles 29:17

I know, my God, that You test the heart and that You are pleased with what is right. I have willingly given all these things with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.

Deuteronomy 13:1-3

“If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, ‘Let us follow other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us worship them,’ do not listen to that prophet’s words or to that dreamer. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.

1 Peter 1:6-7

You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 22:1-18

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he answered. “Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. read more.
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together. Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.”

And he replied, “Here I am, my son.”

Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together. When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

He replied, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me.” Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.” Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By Myself I have sworn,” this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies. And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command.”

2 Chronicles 32:31

When the ambassadors of Babylon’s rulers were sent to him to inquire about the miraculous sign that happened in the land, God left him to test him and discover what was in his heart.

John 6:5-6

Therefore, when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward Him, He asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so these people can eat?” He asked this to test him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do.

James 1:2-3

Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Psalm 78:18-22

They deliberately tested God,
demanding the food they craved.
They spoke against God, saying,
“Is God able to provide food in the wilderness?
Look! He struck the rock and water gushed out;
torrents overflowed.
But can He also provide bread
or furnish meat for His people?”
read more.
Therefore, the Lord heard and became furious;
then fire broke out against Jacob,
and anger flared up against Israel
because they did not believe God
or rely on His salvation.

Exodus 17:1-7

The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

“Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” read more.
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!” The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Numbers 14:22-23

none of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested Me these 10 times and did not obey Me, will ever see the land I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have despised Me will see it.

Deuteronomy 6:16

Do not test the Lord your God as you tested Him at Massah.

Psalm 78:40-44

How often they rebelled against Him
in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert.
They constantly tested God
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
They did not remember His power shown
on the day He redeemed them from the foe,
read more.
when He performed His miraculous signs in Egypt
and His wonders in the region of Zoan.
He turned their rivers into blood,
and they could not drink from their streams.

Psalm 106:13-15

They soon forgot His works
and would not wait for His counsel.
They were seized with craving in the wilderness
and tested God in the desert.
He gave them what they asked for,
but sent a wasting disease among them.

Hebrews 3:7-11

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
and saw My works read more.
for 40 years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation
and said, “They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known My ways.”
So I swore in My anger,
“They will not enter My rest.”

Psalm 95:7-11

For He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture,
the sheep under His care.

Today, if you hear His voice:
Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the wilderness
where your fathers tested Me;
they tried Me, though they had seen what I did.
read more.
For 40 years I was disgusted with that generation;
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray;
they do not know My ways.”
So I swore in My anger,
“They will not enter My rest.”

Malachi 3:10

Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,” says the Lord of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.

Isaiah 7:10-14

Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God—from the depths of Sheol to the heights of heaven.” But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.” read more.
Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God? Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

2 Corinthians 13:5

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test.

1 John 4:1-3

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.

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