H5948 H5948
furnace, crucible, or workshop (uncertain); a place or instrument for refining metal
This rare and difficult word appears only in Psalm 12:6, where silver refined in a furnace provides a metaphor for the purity of God's words. The text reads literally 'silver refined in a furnace/crucible for the earth,' though the precise meaning remains disputed. Ancient versions and rabbinic tradition understood it as a furnace or crucible, focusing on the refining process. Some modern scholars suggest 'workshop' or even delete it as a gloss. Whatever the exact technical meaning, the psalm's point is clear: God's words are thoroughly tested and proven pure, unlike human speech which is characterized by lies and flattery.
Senses
1. sense 1 — A term appearing in Psalm 12:6 related to metal refining, most likely a furnace or crucible. The translations show the interpretive challenge (English: 'in-a-furnace', Spanish: 'en-crisol' [crucible], French: 'dans-fournaise' [furnace], German: 'in-ein-furnace'). Despite textual uncertainty, the context clearly uses metallurgical imagery to affirm that God's promises are completely reliable—refined and tested like silver purified seven times, containing no impurity or deception. 1×
AR["بِ-بَوْتَقَةٍ"]·ben["চুল্লিতে"]·DE["in-ein-furnace"]·EN["in-a-furnace"]·FR["dans-fournaise"]·heb["ב-עליל"]·HI["में-भट्टी"]·ID["dalam-wadah-tanah-liat"]·IT["[בעליל]"]·jav["ing-pawón"]·KO["도가니-로"]·PT["em-fornalha"]·RU["в-горниле"]·ES["en-crisol"]·SW["katika-tanuru"]·TR["potada-"]·urd["-کوٹھے-میں"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† עֲלִיל appar. n.[m.], only כֶּסֶף צָרוּף בַּע׳ לָאָרֶץ ψ 12:7, usually (after 𝔗 כּוּרָא) furnace, crucible (Hup from III. עלל; De al. workshop, from I. עלל), but wholly dub.; NH openly LevyNHWB iii. 654; Che Du del. as gloss; cf. discussion CheExpos. Times viii. 236, 336 Ne ib. 287, 379.