“When a sieve is shaken,
The refuse remains.
Thus a person’s faults appear
When he speaks.
The kiln tests
The potter’s vessels.
Thus the test of a person
Is in his conversation.
The fruit discloses
The cultivation of a tree.
Thus a person’s speech
Discloses the cultivation of his mind.
Do not praise anyone
Before he speaks.
This is the way people are tested.”
When cooking, people often use a sieve to only let the good grains go through. So when a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains. In the same way, when a person speaks, their faults appear. Just as a potter’s work is finished or tested in the furnace kiln, so too human conversation is a test. Just as the fruit of a tree reveals how well the tree was cultivated, so too a person’s speech reveals how his or her mind has been cultivated. Thus you should not praise anyone until they have spoken. Human conversation is how we test each other.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 