Psalm 105:19--The Saying of Jehovah Refined Him?

Psalm 105:19 (ASV): "Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of Jehovah tried him."

Darby: "Until the time when what he said came about: the word of Jehovah tried him."

ESV: "until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him."

NABRE: "Till his prediction came to pass, and the word of the Lord proved him true."

NET: "until the time when his prediction came true. The Lord’s word proved him right."

NWT 2013: "Until the time that his word proved true, The saying of Jehovah is what refined him."

NICOT Commentary:

The psalm, like the book of Genesis, asserts that God’s will was being worked out through the suffering and agency of a singular, vulnerable ancestor — Joseph. The sufferings of Joseph are described metaphorically in v. 18: they inflicted his feet with a fetter; his neck was placed in iron. The transition to the story of Joseph comes in v. 19, with the understated phrase: until his word came to be. The verse is a reference to the tradition of Joseph’s gift of interpreting dreams and the story that he languished in prison until the time came when his word was fulfilled. The second half of the verse — until the word of the LORD tested him — is variously interpreted. One view (cf. NIV) is that the word of the LORD “proved him true,” meaning that the word came true and thus proved Joseph’s authenticity (2 Sam. 22:31 provides a possible support for this view, but the passive use of the verb ṣārap there undermines the interpretation). The preferable interpretation is that Joseph himself was tested, with God’s word refining him as in a blacksmith’s forge. The meaning of ṣārap is “to be refined, tested” (cf. Ps. 12:6; 26:2 Qere). Not to be missed is the deliberate double entendre. In the first phrase, the word is Joseph’s and it comes to be; in the second phrase the word belongs to the LORD, and it refines Joseph. There is deliberate ambiguity — the distinction between the prophetic word as “divine” and as “prophetic” is always a matter of guity [sic].

Rashi:

the saying of the Lord purified him: It tried Joseph, for he was tested and he overcame the temptation [to sin] with his master’s wife, and he was tortured because of her and purified with tortures to place him in the dungeon.